
AN INTRODUCTION TO 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

EUROPEAN BEGINNINGS 



BY 

ALICE M. ATKINSON 



GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 



COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY ALICE M. ATKINSON 

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY GINN AND COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



oi- 






JAN 22 1915 



GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



©CI,A:i914;i2 



PREFACE 

This volume has been prepared to meet the need of the sixth 
grade of the grammar school for a short and simple introduction 
to the history of the United States. It has followed in essential 
particulars the recommendations of the Committee of Eight of 
the American Historical Association for such an introduction. 
English history has been made the basis of the narrative, wher- 
ever possible, in the belief that England furnishes for us the 
simplest illustration of that development of European culture which 
should form the background of an intelligent study of our own 
history. In these respects the present volume resembles the 
author's earlier book, '' European Beginnings of American His- 
tory," from which, indeed, much of the material has been drawn. 

A few words of explanation and suggestion as to the use of the 
book may not be amiss. The chapters are of varying length and 
are often unusually long for a book of this grade, but it is believed 
that the sections will, in most cases, prove suitable for a lesson. 
The questions are rarely based directly upon the subject matter of 
the chapter to which they are appended and can seldom be answered 
by a reference to it. They either contain a back reference, or are 
designed to bring the past into some relation with our life of to-day 
and to stimulate outside research into subjects related to the matter 
in hand ; and the field of inquiry, it is hoped, will include not 
only dictionaries, encyclopedias, geographies, and histories, but the 
more lively and intimate resource of ''grown-up" information, as 
well. The summaries at the beginnings of the chapters contain 
the subjects upon which the pupil should have definite knowledge. 



iv INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The books referred to will be found appropriate for reading in 
class as well as for outside reference. Interesting and fuller develop- 
ment of many subjects may also be found in Robinson's " Introduc- 
tion to the History of Western Europe," Cheyney's '' Short History 
of England," and Green's " Short History of the English People." 

In the History Teachers'' Magazine for May, 191 1, many valua- 
ble aids to the teaching of ancient, medieval, and English history 
are listed, with full directions for procuring them. A few of the 
fine wall pictures catalogued in this list and issued by Longmans, 
Arnold, and Koehler, illustrating events in English history and 
life in the Middle Ages, would well repay the money expended on 
them, for the sake of their enlivening effect on the daily lesson. 
Many subjects will also be found illustrated in the inexpensive 
Perry prints. Further interest can be aroused by the use of 
Rausch's excellent models. The value of the constant use of 
maps is too w^ell known to need emphasis here. For illuminating 
suggestions as to methods of history teaching, no better source 
could be found than the pamphlet already referred to, "The Prob- 
lem of Adapting History to Children in the Elementary Schools," 
by Professor Henry Johnson, published by the Columbia Uni- 
versity Press, 1908. 

Both the author and the editor, Professor James Harvey Robin- 
son, of Columbia University, wish to express here their great 
indebtedness to Professor Johnson for his kindness in reading the 
manuscript and in giving them the benefit of his long and distin- 
guished success in dealing with the difficult problem of history 
in the schools. Grateful acknowledgment is also due Dr. E. P. 
Cheyney, Dr. P. Van Ness Myers, Dr. W. J. Long, Dr. T. B. 
Lawler, and Dr. W. C. Webster for permission to reproduce maps 

and illustrations. 

ALICE M. ATKINSON 
Crozet, Virginia 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 

1. Immigrants i 

2. England 8 

II. ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST 

3. The Men of the Stone Age 13 

4. The Ancient Britons 17 

5. How the Romans came to Britain 20 

III. THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 

6. The Roman Republic 23 

7. The Greeks 37 

IV. THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 

8. The Roman Conquest of Britain 47 

9. Roman Remains 53 

V. THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

10. The Early Germans 67 

11. Last Days of the Roman Empire 70 

12. The Germans in England 76 

VI. THE EARLY CHRISTIANS AND THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND 

13. The Beginnings of Christianity 81 

14. The Conversion of England 84 

15. Bede and the Rule of St. Benedict 87 

VII. ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES 

16. Alfred and the Coming of the Danes 92 

V 



vi INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VIII. THE VIKINGS 

17. What we know of the Vikings 99 

18. Voyages of the Vikings 107 

IX. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 

19. William of Normandy and Harold of England 113 

20. Government of William the Conqueror 119 

21. Feudalism 129 

X. THE CRUSADES AND RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 

22. The First Crusade and the Capture of Jerusalem by the Christians 132 

23. The Third Crusade and Richard I of England 138 

24. Knighthood 144 

XL KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 

25. John and Pope Innocent III 149 

26. King John and the Magna Charta 154 

XII. COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

27. On the Manor 160 

28. Life in the Castles 168 



XIII. THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

29. The Power of the Church 178 

30. Cathedrals 181 

31. Monasteries 186 

32. The Friars 193 

XIV. TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

33. The Towns 197 

34. The Guilds 200 

35. Markets and Fairs 203 

XV. THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 

36. Marco Polo 206 

37. Henry the Navigator 210 



CONTENTS vii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

38. Columbus and the Discovery of America 212 

39. How John Cabot sailed from England to North America . . 217 

40. Vasco da Gama 220 

XVI. THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 

41. How Magellan sailed around South America to the Pacific 

Ocean 226 

42. How Magellan's Fleet crossed the Pacific Ocean 230 

XVII. THE NEW WORLD 

43. Conquest of Mexico 235 

44. The Progress of Discovery 242 

XVIII. QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 

45. Henry VIH 248 

46. Queen Elizabeth 250 

XIX. ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 

47. Philip II of Spain and the Netherlands 259 

48. Philip II and England 263 

XX. THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 

49. English Seamen 269 

50. The End of Elizabeth's Reign 280 

XXI. DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 289 

INDEX 299 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Boyhood of Raleigh (from the painting by Millais) .... Frontispiece 

EngUsh and Indians meeting in 1607 3 

New York City in 191 o, from the Harbor (full page) 5 

Wells Cathedral, England 10 

English Village Street 11 

Fist Hatchet of the Stone- Age Men 14 

Drawings found on the Walls of Caves 15 

Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, England 16 

Early British Pottery . 18 

Ancient Roman Vessels 20 

Roman Soldiers 21 

A Roman Toga 25 

Hannibal's Army crossing the Rhone 29 

Julius Caesar 33 

Augustus 35 

Column of the Roman Emperor Trajan 36 

Head of Athena (full page) 39 

The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum, a Temple on the Acropolis ... 41 

The Acropolis of Athens as it probably appeared in Ancient Times (full page) 43 

Upper Part of the Three Styles of Greek Pillars 44 

Caractacus before the Roman Emperor 49 

Old Roman Road in England 52 

Old Roman Aqueduct at Nimes, France 54 

Remains of Old Roman Baths, at Bath, England 57 

Part of an Ancient Roman House found in Pompeii (full page) 58 

Roman Mosaic from Pompeii 59 

Old Roman Spoons, Bracelets, Keys, Hairpins, and Sandals found in England 61 

Old Roman Book 62 

Roman Altar found in England 64 

Old Roman Bridge at Alcantara, Spain 69 

Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it appears To-day 72 

The Maison Carree, a Roman Temple still standing in Nimes, France ... 75 

ix 



X INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

PAGE 

St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, built on the Site of Queen Bertha's Chapel 85 

Monastery at Vallombrosa, Italy . 89 

Cloisters of an Italian Monastery 90 

Old Saxon Church — the only Complete One surviving 95 

Viking Horse Collar loi 

"Viking Sword 102 

A Runic Stone 103 

A Fiord in Norway (full page) 105 

A Viking Ship 108 

A Norwegian Waterfall no 

William the Conqueror granting the Town Charter to the Citizens of London 

(from the painting by Lucas) (full page) 117 

A Norman Church in Iffley, England 120 

The Doomsday Book 123 

Scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry 1 24 

Norman Stair, Canterbury 127 

Vassal doing Homage to his Lord 130 

Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem 133 

Tomb of a Crusader 136 

King Richard landing in Palestine (full page) 141 

The Knight's Vigil (from the painting by Pettie) 146 

Coat of Arms of King Richard I 147 

Old English Church 151 

Old Forest in England — Burnham Beeches (full page) 157 

A State Carriage of the Fourteenth Century 161 

English Manor House of the Thirteenth Century 163 

An English Village 165 

A Barn of the Thirteenth Century 166 

Warwick Castle from the Avon River (full page) 169 

A Room in the Keep of Craigmillar Castle 170 

Ladies' Costumes in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Centuries . 171 

Gentleman with Hawk (from an old manuscript) 173 

A Knight in Armor 175 

Archbishop's Dress 179 

Canterbury Cathedral, England 182 

The Choir of Wells Cathedral, England 183 

Gloucester Cathedral and Cloisters, England (full page) 1S5 

Gargoyles 186 

A School Scene in the Twelfth Century (from an old manuscript) .... 187 

A Monastery Kitchen, Marienburg, Germany 189 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi 

PAGE 

The Manuscript Book (after the painting by John W. Alexander) .... 190 
Illuminated Manuscript (from the Wycliffe Bible in the British Museum, 

London) ^9^ 

Nuns in Choir (from an old manuscript) ^9- 

Cloisters of a Monastery in Rome (full page) ^95 

A Gate in the Old Town Wall, Southampton, England 198 

Marco Polo 207 

The Return of the Polos 208 

Departure of Columbus 215 

A Venetian Galley 218 

Ferdinand Magellan -~7 

The Strait of Magellan 229 

Magellan's Ship the Victoria -Zli 

Emperor Charles V (from a painting by Titian) (full page) 237 

Temple Pyramid in Mexico 240 

A Spanish Galleon 244 

The Mission at Santa Barbara, California 245 

Corridor of Santa Barbara Mission 246 

The Ruins of Melrose Abbey , 249 

Pope Julius 11 (1441-1 513) (from a painting by Raphael) (full page) ... 251 

Queen Elizabeth 252 

Queen Elizabeth's Autograph 253 

Mary Queen of Scots 256 

Philip II (from a painting by Titian) 260 

English Seaman's Home at Clovelly 271 

Houses of Parliament, London 274 

English Country House built in the Elizabethan Age (full page) 283 

Shakspere's Home 284 

Ancient Roman Lamp 291 

Early Cannon 295 

The First Printing Press (from the painting by John W. Alexander in the 

Congressional Library) 296 

Early Printing Press 297 



LIST OF MAPS 

PAGE 

Europe at the Present Time 15 

The Roman Empire about 100 a.d 33 

Dominions of William the Conqueror 121 

Europe during the Crusades 134 

The Voyages of Discovery 230 

The World 276 



LIST OF REFERENCE BOOKS 

Anderson, R. B. Norse Mythology. S. C. Griggs & Co. 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Edited by J. A. Giles. Bohn Library. 

Archer and Kingsley. The Crusades (Story of Nations). G. P. Putnam's 

Sons. 
Bates, K. L., and Coman, K. English History Told by English Poets. The 

Macmillan Company. 
BoTSFORD, G. W. The Story of Rome as the Greeks and Romans Tell It. 

The Macmillan Company. 
Brooks, Noah. The Story of Marco Polo. The Century Co. 
Burns, E. E. The Story of Great Inventions. Harper & Brothers. 
Carpenter, E. j. Long Ago in Greece. Little, Brown, and Company. 
Cheyney, E. p. Readings in English History. Ginn and Company. 
Hall, J. Viking Tales. Rand McNally & Company. 
HiGGiNSON, T. W. Young Folks' Book of American Explorers. Lee & 

Shepard. 
Kipling. Puck of Pook's Hill. 

Lawler. The Story of Columbus and Magellan. Ginn and Company. 
Little Flowers of St. Francis. Temple Classics. 
Mabie, H. W. Norse Stories. Rand McNally & Company. 
Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome. Ginn and Company. 
Mahaffy. Greek Antiquities (History Primers). Edited by J. R. Green. 

The Macmillan Company. 
MowRY. American Inventions and Inventors. 
Old South Leaflets. 7 vols. D. C. Heath & Co. 
Plutarch. Vol.1, Tales of the Greeks; Vol. II, Tales of the Romans. 

Edited by F. J. Gould. Harper & Brothers. 
Pyle, Howard. Robin Hood. 

Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History. 2 vols. Ginn and Company. 
Shakespeare. Plays. 
Shaw, C. D. Stories of the Ancient Greeks. Ginn and Company. 



DATES OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS 
REFERRED TO IN THIS BOOK 



B.C. 1000 (about). Beginnings of Greek history. 

753. Year in which, as the Romans beHeved, Romulus and Remus 

founded Rome. 
509. Year in which, as the Romans believed, the first consuls were 

elected after the expulsion of Tarquin, their last king. 
450-350. Time of great Greek artists, builders, poets, historians, orators, 

and philosophers. 
272. Romans complete the conquest of Italy and become acquainted with 

Greek civilization. 
264. Beginning of the Punic Wars. 
146. Destruction of Carthage by the Romans. 
146. Corinth destroyed, and Greece becomes a Roman province. 
55. Julius Caesar invades Britain. 

44. Assassination of Caesar in the Senate House at Rome. 
31. Octavius assumes the title of Augustus and is acknowledged ruler 
of Rome. 
A.D. 9. Germans annihilate three Roman legions which had invaded their 
country. 
43. Invasion of Britain under Claudius. 
64. First persecution of the Christians in Rome. 
100. The Roman Empire at its greatest extent. Rome adorned with 

splendid buildings. 
330. Founding of Constantinople by Constantine the Great, the first 

Christian emperor. 
378. Goths settle in a Roman province and defeat the Roman legions 

in the battle of Adrianople. 
410. Sack of Rome by Alaric, the Goth. 

449. Invasion of Britain by Saxons after the Romans had left the 
country. 



DATES OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS xv 

A.D. 597. St. Augustine sent by Pope Gregory the Great to introduce Chris- 
tianity into England. 
787. The Danish Vikings invade England, 
871. Alfred the Great becomes king of England. 

912. Northmen estabhsh themselves in a district of France which is 
called Normandy after them. 

10 1 6. Canute, the Dane, becomes king of England. 

1066. William of Normandy invades England and defeats the English 
at the battle of Hastings. 

1095. Pope Urban rouses people to go on the First Crusade to the Holy 
Land to recapture Jerusalem from the Turks. 

1099. Jerusalem is taken by the Crusaders, and Godfrey of Bouillon is 
elected king. 

1 190. Richard the Lion-Hearted, king of England, PhiHp Augustus of 
France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, lead the Third 
Crusade. 

1 100-1300. Time of troubadours and tournaments, of the building of 
castles and cathedrals, of the founding of universities and the 
growth of towns. 

1 210. Pope Innocent HI gives his approval to St. Francis and his fol- 
lowers, who later developed into the Franciscan order of Mendicant 
Friars. (Four years later the Dominican order was founded.) 

1 21 5. Magna Charta signed at Runnymede by King John. 

1270. Marco Polo, the Venetian, sets out to travel through Asia to the 
court of Kublai Khan, in Cathay (China). 

1453. The Turks capture Constantinople, and the Eastern Roman Empire 
comes to an end. 

1456. First book (the Bible) printed with movable types. 

1487. Diaz, the Portuguese, rounds the Cape of Good Hope. 

1492. Discovery of America by Columbus. 

1498. Vasco da Gama finds the eastern sea route to India. 

1509. Henry VHI becomes king of England. 

15 19. Charles V elected emperor. 

1 5 19. Conquest of Mexico begun by Cortes. 

1520. Martin Luther revolts against the Pope. 

1522. Magellan and the first circumnavigation of the globe. 
1542. De Soto discovers the Mississippi River. 



xvi INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

1558. Elizabeth becomes queen of England. 

1559- Queen Elizabeth establishes Protestantism in England. 

1 564. Birth of Shakspere. 

1 568. Beginning of revolt of the Netherlands against Spain under William 

of Orange. 

1577. Sir Francis Drake sets out on his voyage around the globe. 

1588. The Spanish Armada destroyed. 

1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth. 

1607. Colony of Jamestown established in Virginia. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO 
AMERICAN HISTORY 

EUROPEAN BEGINNINGS 
CHAPTER I 

OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 

How the first English settlers arrived in North America. Different conditions 
which immigrants find to-day. How English habits and institutions came to 
prevail over the United States. Description of England as it appears to-day 

Section i. Immigrants 

Introduction. Less than four hundred years ago the vast 
country which is now called the United States was a wilder- 
ness of forests and prairies, of mountains, deserts, and 
plains. There were no cities or towns or farms ; no high- 
ways or even country roads. Where these now are, were 
stretches of pathless woods and prairies. No white men at 
all lived in this wilderness. Our great land, that extends 
nearly three thousand miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean and is to-day swarming with millions of English- 
speaking people, was then inhabited only by Indians. 

The first settlers. In 1607 a party of Englishmen set sail 
for this vast and lonely wilderness, and, landing on the 
shores of what is now Virginia, began a little settlement 



2 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

there. They called their colony Jamestown in honor of 
the English king, James I. This was the first permanent 
English settlement on American soil. It would probably 
have been the last if the English colonists had not been so 
strong and courageous, for the hardships and discourage- 
ments of the first year in the new country were terrible. 

Almost every year, however, saw more Englishmen 
coming over to America. Little towns grew up, and farms 
and plantations were tilled and planted where forests had 
been. But the colonists had to send back to the mother 
country for their furniture, clocks, watches, dishes, knives, 
tea, sugar, hats, and materials for clothing and shoes — 
for almost all their conveniences and comforts, in fact. 
They tried to live as far as possible in the way they had 
lived in England, and they regarded themselves as subjects 
of the English king just as if they had stayed at home. 

For one hundred and fifty years these English settle- 
ments grew and prospered on American soil. With the 
exception of a few Dutch in New York, some Swedes in 
Delaware, and the Spaniards in Florida, the whole eastern 
border of the country was English. 

As the settlements increased in size and prosperity, 
they began to grow restless under English rule and to 
feel that the home government was unjust and severe 
and finally no longer to be endured. It was this feeling 
that brought about the Declaration of Independence in 
1776 and the Revolutionary War. At the end of the 



OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 3 

war the colonies found themselves a free people, subject 
no longer to England. Then began the history of the re- 
public of the United States — a history that is not yet 
a hundred and fifty years old. 

After the establishing of the republic, immigrants con- 
tinued to come to America from many countries of 




English and Indians meeting in 1607 

Europe, — from Ireland, Germany, Italy, — from every 
country whose citizens wished greater freedom or better 
chances of earning a living. And still to-day immigrants 
come across the ocean in ever-increasing numbers — 
from Italy and Russia, from Germany, Austria, Sweden, 
and many other countries. 



4 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Arrival of immigrants. Let us stop for a moment to pic- 
ture the arrival of the earhest immigrants from England 
and compare it with that of the immigrants of to-day. It 
was in 1607, as we said, that the little band of English- 
men sailed up the James River in search of a home. How 
small the three little ships were that brought them — 
none of them larger than a good-sized fishing vessel ! 
And the men that came in them, how few they were, 
compared with the swarms of immigrants that are now 
every day crowding to our shores ! On these three little 
ships there were in all only one hundred five persons. 
When they landed on the spot where Jamestown now is, 
there was nothing to be seen about them but woods and 
water stretching away on every side. They had to provide 
their own shelter on these lonely shores, first clearing 
the thick forest to make a place for their homes. At the 
same time they had to defend themselves from the Indian 
arrows that constantly threatened their lives, and from the 
wild animals that lived all about them. Often they had 
to eat nuts and berries to keep from starving. 

Let us now turn to the immigrants of to-day and see 
how differently they are received into our country. The 
greater number of them come to New York, so we will 
visit the harbor there to watch their arrival. 

The enormous size of the ships and the great crowds 
that pour out of them are the first things that mark the 
difference between the early days and the present time. 




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W 
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6 IXTRODLXTIOX TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The vessels that bring immigrants now are huge steam- 
ships as long as three or four ordinary- city blocks. They 
hold as many people as several large hotels. Instead of 
coming over once in six months or a year, as the sailing 
vessels did three hundred years ago, they arrive almost 
ever}^ day. The immigrants that swarm down the gang- 
planks of the ship, loaded with trunks and boxes and 
bundles, number sometimes five or six thousand in a day. 

This great crowd of newcomers to our shores are not 
left free to go ashore with the other passengers. They 
are transported in boats to Ellis Island, in New York 
harbor, where they have to be carefully examined in 
buildings that have been provided for this purpose. 

The doctors and inspectors who examine them must 
determine whether they are free from disease and able to 
support themselves, so that only those may be allowed to 
come in who are likely to be a help, not a hindrance, 
to our countr}\ There seems to be an endless stream of 
them as they pass up the wide stairs of the buildings on 
their way to inspection. As they go e\'er\- man takes off 
his cap, according to order, to salute the American flag 
that hangs above his head. Those who pass examination 
are allowed to leave the island and are helped to make 
their way to wherever they wish to go. The others are 
sent back to their own country-. 

How the United States still resembles England. Let us 
suppose that among these new arrivals there were a 



OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 7 

Frenchman, an Italian, an Englishman, a Russian, and a 
German. Wliich one of them would feel most at home 
among us? It would certainly be the Englishman. 

In the first place, an Englishman understands our 
language and can read all the signs, newspapers, and 
magazines as soon as he steps ashore. Then the names 
of many places are familiar to him and remind him of 
England, such as New York, New England, New 
Hampshire, New Jersey, as well as Boston, Worcester, 
Greenwich, New London, Cambridge, and many other 
towns which are named after English ones. 

Moreover, he finds the way we Americans live, and 
the things we eat and wear, and the sort of amusements 
and sports we enjoy, much like what he has been used to 
in his home in England. On the other hand, immigrants 
from other countries find things different from what they 
were used to, and they try for a while to live as far as 
possible in the same way in which they lived in Italy or 
Russia or Germany. Little by little, however, as they- 
become American citizens and grow used to the ways of 
the Americans about them, they give up the customs 
they brought over from their own countries. They change 
more and more to our manner of living, and their chil- 
dren can scarcely be distinguished from the children born 
of American parents. 

Lastly, the Englishman finds that the works of the 
great English writers, living and dead, are read and 



8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

treasured here in the United States just as they are in 
England. And with the best of reasons, for do they not, 
most of them, belong to us, just as they do to the English ? 
Shakespeare is ours, and Chaucer and Milton, for the 
forefathers of many of us were English people when 
these poets were writing their immortal plays and poems. 
Those English authors, too, who have lived and written 
since the time when our country became independent of 
England give us as much pleasure as our own American 
writers. When we read " Alice in Wonderland," or " Tom 
Brown at Rugby," or the "Jungle Book," we do not stop 
to think whether it was written by an Englishman or an 
American. The books of each country belong to both, 
and they give us a pleasure that we cannot get from the 
wTiters of any other country. 

It is no wonder, then, since our native land is still 
English in the many ways that we have seen, and since 
it was English so long a time before it became the 
United States, that we sometimes call England the 
" mother country," and feel that, of all the countries across 
the sea, we have a very special kinship with that one. 

Section 2. England 

Perhaps the first thing to be realized about this little 
island from which our country sprang, is how small it 
really is. If we compare England with our own states, 
we shall find it to be about the size of Illinois; and 



OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 9 

the whole United States, of which it is the parent, is 
almost seventy-five times as large — a small country, 
indeed, to be the mother of so large a republic. 

West of England lies the mountainous little country 
of Wales, which was conquered by the English kings 
some six hundred years ago. To the north are the moun- 
tains, moors, and lakes of Scotland. England, Wales, and 
Scotland together form the island called Great Britain. 
Separated from England by a strip of sea is Ireland — 
" Erin's green isle." These two islands, with many 
smaller ones along the coast, are known as the British 
Isles, or the United Kingdom. 

The climate of England is a pleasant one, mild in 
winter and not too warm in the summer. They have 
many more rainy days there than we have, and less sun- 
shine than we are used to, but it is the frequent mists 
and rains that make the island so fresh and green. It is 
a very attractive country, and although it is not large, it 
has a great variety of lovely scenery whose beauty is 
increased by picturesque villages and ivy-covered stone 
churches, by stately houses, fine old castles, and the 
spires and towers of splendid cathedrals. 

Appearance of England. The first sight that meets the 
traveler's view as he approaches England from the south 
is the line of high white chalk cliffs that rise far above the 
sea and gleam for many miles against the blue waters 
of the Channel. It is said that it was because of the 



lo INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

whiteness of these cHffs that England in ancient times 
was given the name of Albion — a name supposed 
to come from the Latin word albiis, meaning " white." 
Writers often use it, thinking it more poetic than 
the word " England." Shakespeare speaks of " great 
Albion's queen" and the " nook-shotten isle of Albion." 




Wells Cathedral, England 



After the traveler lands on the island and leaves the 
chalk cliffs behind him, he comes to the soft rolling hills, 
called downs, that are peculiar to southern England. 
They are low hills covered with grass and are very 
lovely when cloud shadows pass over their slopes. The 
region of the downs extends over all the southeastern 



OUR DEBT TO ENGLAND 



II 



part of England — almost two thirds of the whole 
country. The rest is made up of a central plain and a 
mountainous region beyond. 

In this plain the traveler will find much to charm and 
delight him. There are little villages with thatched 




English Village Street 



cottages and gardens gay with geraniums and roses, 
ancient castles with gray towers rising above the tops of 
thick green trees, and beautiful old country houses set in 
wide parks full of oak and beech trees. On every hand 
he will see trees and fields and hedges, and gentle rivers 
flowing between the greenest of meadows and shaded by 



12 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

masses of green leaves. If it were not for the mining 
districts and the smoky manufacturing cities that have 
grown up in recent times, the central part of England 
would be the softest and most smiling country in the world. 
But it is a pleasure to pass from this plain, green and 
luxuriant as it is, with its fields and hedgerows, and find 
one's self in the cool, clear, mountain district to the north. 
There the peaks, mist-covered, the mountain torrents 
that fall from their heights, and the shining lakes that lie 
in the hollows between, all give the traveler great delight. 
And if he has the good fortune to be in this country 
in the month of August, he will have still further delight 
in seeing the hills covered with purple heather and yellow 
gorse in full flower. These are some of the many beauties 
of England that make it seem not too high praise to call 
her a '* precious stone set in the silver sea." 

Questions, l. What do you know about the American Indians ? 2. What 
is the difference between an immigrant and an emigrant ? 3. What did 
you know about England before you read this chapter? 



CHAPTER II 

ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST 

How the earliest peoples of whom we have any traces seem to have lived. The 

Ice Age. The Stone Age. The use of bronze. Iron. How we learn about these 

earliest peoples. Pytheas. The manners, customs, and beliefs of the Britons. 

Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar 

Section 3. The Men of the Stone Age 

This island of England, so much of whose history is 
really ours, lies so close to Europe that it almost seems to 
be a part of it. Where the water is narrowest one can see 
across from France to England. Many thousands of 
years ago England was actually attached to the Con- 
tinent by a strip of land. Later this land sank gradually 
until the sea flowed in and covered it, forming the Eng- 
lish Channel. 

We have good reason to believe that before the two 
countries were divided the same kind of men dwelt in 
both. They were savages and lived much like animals, 
although they could use sticks to kill game and to 
defend themselves, instead of having to depend upon 
teeth and claws, and could make a fire to warm them- 
selves and cook their food. They also used bits of flint 
to cut sticks and poles, to carve their meat, and to scrape 

13 



14 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY .| 

the skins which they used for garments or for covering 
their huts. j 

Fist hatchets. For a long time the only tool they had : 
was the flint which they picked up. Later they learned 
to take a lump of flint and knock off chips with another | 
stone until they formed a kind of hatchet, usually about I 
as big as a man's fist. They used this tor chopping, cut- j 
ting, scraping, and even sawing, for it had a rough edge, j 
These " fist hatchets " are found not only in the south | 
of England but all over southern Europe, and in Egypt, ] 

India, Japan, and ; 
North America. So \ 
the men who used 
the fist hatchets must . 
have been scattered 

over the whole earth. 

Fist Hatchet of the Stone- Age Men 

We do not know 

what other implements they had, for all traces of their 
huts, clothing, and wooden utensils disappeared long,; 
long ago, and only their curious stone hatchets remain i 
to tell the tale. 

The Ice Age. Bones of several kinds of elephants, the | 
rhinoceros, and the hyena are found along with the stone 
hatchets in England, so we suppose that the climate of; 
the country was warmer then than it now is — more like | 
that of Florida to-day. But later it became very cold— j 
so cold that a great sheet of ice, or glacier, pushed! 




ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONOUEST 



15 



down from the mountains of Norway and covered all 
England except the southern part of the island. Our 
own country also was covered with ice at this period 
down as far as New York. 

How man managed to live during the Ice Age we do 
not know. Many of the big animals that needed a warm 
climate died out, and the reindeer, the bison, and the 
huge hairy mammoth took their places. If men had not 
been able to make 
tools and provide 
themselves with shel- 
ter and clothing, as 
well as food, they 
would have suffered 
the fate of the lower 
animals. They learned 
gradually to make ar- 
rowheads and spear- 
heads of flint, and 
bone needles with which to sew together skins for their 
clothing. They also began to paint and carve pictures 
on the walls of caves. Some of these have been discov- 
ered during the past few years in France, and show 
surprising skill. 

After the ice melted, life became easier and men made 
still further progress. They learned how to weave, how 
to make pottery, and how to cultivate grain. They tamed 




Drawings found on the Walls op^ 
Caves 



i6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

horses and kept cattle. But even yet they knew nothing 
at all about metals and still made all their tools of stone, 
bone, or wood. This period is often called the Stone 
Age. It was in this age, probably, that the vast circle of 
stones, called Stonehenge, was made. These stones are 
so huge that it would not be easy for men, even with a 
modern derrick, to set them up where they are. How 




Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, England 

the men of the Stone Age managed to do it or why 
they made the circle, no one knows. 

Bronze and iron. Two or three hundred thousand years 
may have passed between the time that the men of the 
Stone Age first learned to make fist hatchets of flint, 
and man's discovery that copper could be used for tools. 
Copper is an easy metal to melt and, when mixed with a 
little tin, becomes hard enough to make a very good 
hatchet or knife. This mixture is called bronze, and it 
seems to have been first discovered some five or six 



ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST 17 

thousand years ago. Another thousand years or so 
passed before any one began to use iron. This has 
proved the best metal for tools and machinery, for steel 
is, of course, only hardened iron. Man's discovery that 
he could use iron is one of the most important that he 
ever made. 

All that we know about the people who lived in these 
dim ages of the past has been learned from the pieces of 
flint, the jugs and vases, the beads and shells, that are 
found to-day in the earth, where it has been turned up in 
digging or plowing, or has been washed away by streams. 
Such remains are found, too, in caves and in the big 
mounds in which the men of those early times buried 
the dead. No books have been left by them. Indeed, no 
one then could read or write, and the alphabet had not 
even be'^n thought of. 

Section 4. The Ancient Britons 

By the time, however, that the people living in England 
had learned how to make use of iron, there were in Eu- 
rope two countries, Greece and Rome, which had already 
advanced so far in civilization that in some ways they 
knew as much as we do to-day. It is in their books that 
we find the first mention of the people who inhabited 
England at this time. 

Greek account of the Britons. In one of their books 
there is an account of the people in the southwestern 



i8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

part of the island, where there were tin mines. Accord- 
ing to this writer, the Britons in this region were a 
friendly people. They were often visited by merchants 
from other countries, for whose cargoes they traded off 
their tin. They were clever at w^eaving cloth and 
could even weave plaid designs in it. 





Early British Pottery 



They were much given to feasting. At their banquets 
they sat on rushes or the skins of wild beasts, around a 
pot on the fireplace, or in a circle on the grass in front of 
little tables on which were baskets full of bread. Great 
quantities of meat were served, which they gnaw^ed from 
the bone like dogs. Fruit and vegetables they do not 
seem to have known. They had a minstrel to sing to 
them while they ate, but his music was not always sooth- 
ing, it seems, for a quarrel usually took place at every 



ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST 19 

feast, and some guest was pretty sure to stab another 
to death before the company broke up. 

The Britons thought that there were many gods and 
goddesses to whom they ought to offer sacrifices. They 
beheved in all kinds of signs and omens, and in fairies, 
sprites, and hobgoblins. One curious belief was that 
in certain wells and springs there were fairies who would 
grant them their wishes in return for gifts dropped into 
the water or hung on bushes. Every sort of offering was 
made to these spirits — sometimes a piece of money, 
sometimes an egg, or a piece of cloth, or a crooked pin. 
Even to-day this old, old custom is followed in some re- 
mote parts of England and Ireland, where the young 
people still believe in '' wishing wells " and still hang 
rags on the bushes or drop crooked pins in the water 
to please the spirits of the spring. 

Druids. The priests of the Britons were a powerful 
body of men called Druids. They made sacrifices to 
their gods, sometimes of human beings, whom they 
burned to death in wicker cages. They acted also as 
teachers of the young men, and settled disputes which 
arose among the people. The great oak trees, with 
mistletoe hanging from their branches, which we still see 
in parts of England, were held sacred to the Druids be- 
cause it was under them that they performed their cere- 
monies. The mistletoe itself was believed to be a very 
precious plant, capable of healing wounds and curing 



20 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



diseases. There was great rejoicing when its clusters 
of white berries and gray-green leaves were discovered 
growing upon an oak tree. A Druid, clothed in a flowing 
white robe, climbed the tree and cut off the plant with a 
golden sickle, while the onlookers stood around and 
gazed with awe upon the solemn ceremony. 

The Britons were scat- 
tered over the island in 
tribes, each governed by its 
own chieftain, who acted 
also as its commander in 
case of war with other tribes. 
Wars were very frequent, 
especially in the more thickly 
settled southern regions, 
and different tribes were 
constantly engaged in fierce 
conflicts with one another. 



Section 5. How the Ro- 
mans CAME TO Britain 

Julius Caesar. In the sum- 
mer of 55 B.C. word came to 
the Britons from Gaul, the country that is now called 
France, that the great Roman general, Julius Caesar, who 
had been for many months engaged in conquering the 
Gauls, was getting ready a fleet of ships to take him and 




Ancient Roman Vessels 



ENGLAND BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST 21 



his soldiers over to Britain. He had heard that the 
Britons were sending aid to the Gauls in the war he 
was waging with them, and he wished to put an end to it. 
He desired also to learn what 
manner of men they might be, 
and what their island was like. 

This alarming news was not 
long in spreading among the 
Britons. The various tribes for- 
got for a time their own quarrels 
with one another in preparations 
for resisting this invader of their 
country. It was not till late in 
the summer that the watchers 
who had been posted on the chalk 
cliffs saw far out on the Channel 
the gleaming sails of the ap- 
proaching Roman ships. 

As the fleet drew near, the 
British leaders, who had assembled 
their warriors on the shore, sur- 
veyed with wonder the long ships 
with their beaked prows and lines 

of rowers ; the Roman soldiers, with their glittering lances 
and shields and shining helmets, as they followed the 
standard bearer who leaped from the foremost boat into 
the waves, carrying the Roman eagle ; and, above all. 




Roman Soldiers 



22 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the commanding figure of Julius Caesar himself, directing 
and encouraging his men. Such an army the Britons had 
never before dreamed of. Yet they were not frightened 
by it, and without even waiting for Caesar and his legions 
to reach the shore, they rushed fiercely to the attack. 

The Romans finally succeeded in getting to the shore, 
and, after some sharp fighting, put the Britons to flight. 
Caesar stayed in the country only a short time, however, 
on account of the nearness of winter, and returned across 
the Channel to Gaul without having accomplished any- 
thing except the finding of the way over. Little more 
was done on a second invasion which he made a year 
later. He stayed a little longer and went farther into the 
interior, but he was continually driven off by the Britons, 
and he finally gave up and withdrew his forces again to 
Gaul. It was almost a hundred years before the Romans 
again brought an army into. Britain. 

Questions, l. How do we know anything about the people who lived 
in the Stone Age ? 2. Do you know of any people who live to-day as the 
ancient Britons did ? 3. Do you know anything about the Romans ? 
4. How many years is it since 55 B.C. ? 



References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 10-14 
(Caesar and the Britons); pp. 15-19 (description of the Britons). 



CHAPTER III 

THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 

Legendary founding of Rome. The Romans conquer all Italy. Life of the 
early Romans. Rome's wars with Carthage. The government of Rome. The 
Roman army. The imperator. A triumph. Julius Caesar. Augustus becomes 
the head of the Roman Empire. The civilization of the Greek people. How 
the Romans copied the Greek books, architecture, art, and ways of living. 
What our western world owes to Greece 

Section 6. The Roman Republic 

Rise of Rome. The soldiers who had come over to 
Britain with JuHus Caesar were but a small part of the 
Roman armies which had been engaged for six or seven 
hundred years in gradually conquering southern Europe, 
as well as portions of Africa and Asia. Every one should 
know something of the great Roman Empire, which grew 
so eager to rule the world that It wanted even the remote 
outlying Island of Britain. 

It began In a very small way. The Romans themselves 
believed that their town had been founded by the twins, 
Romulus and Remus, seven hundred fifty-three years 
before Christ. They used to celebrate the event every 
year. As a matter of fact, we may guess that Rome was 
in the beginning a little walled village which gradually 

grew up on the banks of the muddy Tiber in central 

23 



24 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Italy. There seemed little prospect then that it would 
ever become the center of a vast empire. 

The Romans began by conquering the villages and 
towns nearest them. They were not often beaten, for 
they were a people of great endurance — able to bear 
pain, cold, hunger, and the stress of battle, without com- 
plaint. They were afraid of nothing, and, most important 
of all, they were men who never gave up when once they 
had set out to accomplish anything. These qualities 
served to make them victors in the battles with their 
nearest neighbors, and made it possible for them gradu- 
ally to conquer towns farther and farther away. Less 
than five hundred years after the supposed founding of 
the city, Rome had made herself mistress of all the 
southern part of Italy; and the small village, huddled on 
a bank above the Tiber, had grown to be a city covering 
seven hills and encircled by a wall almost five miles 
around. 

Many stories were told by later Romans about these 
struggles of their forefathers with the neighboring peo- 
ples — stories that turn upon the courage of the early 
Romans, their sense of honor, their love of simplicity in 
dress and manners, their patriotism, and scorn of wealth. 
Horatius, Coriolanus, Camillus, are names of some of the 
"Roman fathers" that have come to be familiar to us. 

We call these stories about Romulus, Horatius, and 
other heroes "legends," a name given to tales of early 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 



25 



times that one cannot be sure are entirely true, or which 
may not be true at all. Such stories were told over so 
often, and by so many different persons, that it would 
have been impossible for them not to get changed in 
many ways from the form in which 
they were first told. 

How the early Romans lived. The 
early Romans lived very plainly. 
Their low, one-story houses were 
built of a sort of soft brick and 
contained but one large room, di- 
vided into small apartments by 
thin board partitions. The floor 
was a rough pavement of pebbles 
and clay. The everyday clothing 
of the men consisted of a single 
coarse woolen garment, reaching 
to the knees. This w^as called a 
tunic. They also wore leather san- 
dals, a felt hat, and on one of the 
fingers of the left hand an iron 
ring, which they used as a seal. On special occasions, 
such as public meetings and festivals, they wore the 
toga, a long flowing robe of white wool. Their food 
was very plain — mostly bread, cheese, nuts, fruit, and 
a little wine. On holidays some eggs or fish might 
be added. 




A Roman Toga 



26 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Great changes came about in the manner of Hfe of the 
Romans after they had completed the conquest of the 
cities of southern Italy, 272 B.C. These cities were col- 
onies that had originally come over from Greece and 
established themselves in Italy. They had become rich 
and flourishing towns long before Rome had been heard 
of. The Romans, when they conquered and took posses- 
sion of them, had their eyes opened to ways of living and 
to comforts and pleasures such as they had never dreamed 
of. The houses of the Greeks were far more attractive, 
their public buildings more beautiful, their food and wine 
much more delicious, and their clothing more elegant 
than anything the Romans knew, and the latter soon 
learned from them how to increase the cleanliness, ease, 
and attractiveness of their own lives. 

Some old-fashioned Romans disliked the introduction 
of these Greek customs, but as a rule they eagerly 
adopted the new ways of living which they acquired 
from the Greeks. 

War between Rome and Carthage. Now, after the Romans 
had made themselves rulers of all Italy and could depend 
upon the conquered towns throughout the country to 
raise armies whenever they might be needed, they found a 
new and more distant enemy to fight — a very powerful city 
in Africa, on the opposite shore of the Mediterranean Sea. 

This new enemy was Carthage, a wealthy state whose 
trading ships sailed on long voyages to the East, bringing 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 27 

back rich cargoes of silk, spices, gokl, and gems, and 
carrying on a vast deal of commerce with all the cities 
on the Mediterranean shores. So completely did Carthage 
control the sea that her ambassadors are said to have 
told the Romans they might not even wash their hands 
in the Mediterranean without permission from the 
Carthaginians. 

Southwest of Italy there lies a large island called 
Sicily. In Roman times it was a rich, fertile country, 
producing great crops of grain and grazing fine horses 
and cattle. Along its shores were scattered wealthy 
cities which the Greeks had founded. The Carthaginians 
had already gained possession of a large part of the 
island when the Romans sent forces to aid one of the 
towns in its fight against Carthage. 

The war thus begun between Rome and Carthage, 
in 264 B.C., lasted for twenty-three years. Both the 
Carthaginians and the Romans fought with unfailing 
courage. In the end the Romans were victorious and 
took possession of the island and its beautiful Greek 
cities. Sicily thus became the first Roman " province." ^ 

Hannibal. Some years after this Carthage again quar- 
reled with Rome. The Carthaginian commander who 
made the war that followed one of the most famous in 
history was the great general Hannibal. His skill in 
planning his campaigns and his valor in fighting them 

1 See p. 30. 



28 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

made him, perhaps, the most formidable enemy that the 
Romans ever had to contend with. 

When he was but a Httle boy, his father, who was then 
the commander of the Carthaginian army, led him to the 
altar and made him swear that his life should be devoted 
to the war with the Romans. This oath he kept so faith- 
fully that he seems to have had no other thought or wish 
than the overthrow of Rome. For two years he fought 
the Romans in Spain. Then, finally, he led his army up 
through France, over the great mountain range of the 
Alps, and down again into Italy itself, the very stronghold 
of the enemy. 

The difficulties attending this famous march were 
tremendous. The elephants which the Carthaginians 
used in fighting were hard to manage when there was a 
river or mountain range to cross. To carry them across 
the river Rhone, huge rafts had to be built, covered with 
grass and earth so that the animals would not realize that 
they had left the solid ground. When the army came to 
the passage over the Alps, the snow was so deep in some 
places that the horses and elephants could scarcely 
struggle through it. In other places the paths were so 
narrow and so slippery that men and beasts fell over the 
precipices and were dashed to pieces on the rocks below. 
Sometimes they were attacked by mountaineers, who 
rolled stones down upon them as they were toiling pain- 
fully up the steep slopes. To add to all the other 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 



29 



difficulties, the soldiers were unwilling to follow their 
general through these dangers, and had to be constantly 
forced or encouraged to persist. 

This great and perilous undertaking was finally accom- 
plished, however, and was followed by an even greater 
feat, for Hannibal managed to keep his army in Italy for 




Hannibal's Army crossing the Rhone 



fifteen years. He not only continually frightened and 
harassed the Romans, but he defeated them again and 
again in terrible battles. He was recalled to Carthage, 
however, before he could take Rome itself. Here his 
good fortune deserted him, for he was defeated by an 
army that the Romans had sent over, and finally killed 
himself rather than fall into their hands. 



30 IXTRODL'CTIOX TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Fall of Caxthage. The long conflict beUveen Rome and 
Carthage, known as the Punic wars, ceased for a while 
after Hannibal's death. But Rome could never forgive 
Carthage for being so great and prosperous. She finally 
became so jealous of her rival that she crossed over into 
Africa, laid siege to Carthage, and by standing the people 
and setting fire to the town, forced them to surrender. 
The captives were sold into slaver}', as was the cruel cus- 
tom in those days. The great and beautiful cit}' was utterly 
destroyed, and the ground upon which it was built was 
cursed by the Romans, so that no one should ever venture 
to rebuild it. The destruction of Carthage took place in 
146 B.C., about ninety years before Carsar made his first 
expedition across the Channel into Britain. 

Roman provinces. The Romans were by no means 
satisfied with the conquest of Italy and Sicily and the 
destruction of the noble cit}- of Carthage. They brought 
many other countries under their rule, including Egypt 
Asia Minor, Greece, Spain, Gaul, and regions along the 
Rhine and Danube rivers. By the time of Julius Caesar 
all of southern Europe, besides a portion of Asia and 
Africa, belonged to Rome. Each country, as it was con- 
quered, became a Roman pro\-ince, ruled by Roman 
governors, kept in subjection by Roman soldiers, and 
compelled to pay a tax each year to Rome. 

Government of Rome. In the early days of Rome the 
community was made up of different families, each one 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 31 

under the rule of its head. The heads of the famiUes 
used to meet to consider what was best for the commu- 
nity and to make laws for governing it. As these heads 
of families were the older men, this assembly was called 
the senate, from senex, the Latin word for " old man." 

Rome seems to have been ruled by a king as well as 
by the senate in its early days. The Romans believed 
Romulus to have been their first ruler. They had a famous 
legend which told how they got rid of their kings alto- 
gether. Their seventh king, Tarquin the Proud, was a 
cruel tyrant, who was accused of killing citizens whom 
he disliked or whose money he coveted. Moreover, his 
son was more hated than Tarquin himself, so the citizens 
rose against the family, drove them from the city, and 
declared that they would have no more kings. 

Instead of a monarchy they established a . republic. 
Each year they elected two men, called consuls, to govern 
the city together for one year. In times of special danger 
a dictator was appointed ; that is, an officer who had 
supreme power for six months, and who was superior 
even to the consuls. 

We have spoken of Rome's wars, and how she gradually 
conquered not only her nearest neighbors but cities and 
countries far away from her. The army which won these 
victories was carefully organized. The companies of 
which it was made up were called legions, each of which 
was composed of several thousand men. 



32 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY , 

Roman soldiers. As time went on and Rome gradually | 
enlarged her borders and entered upon one war after | 
another, the legions and the successful general who com- | 
manded them became more and more powerful and 
important. When they were sent off to conquer other j 
lands they took care to keep for themselves most of the j 
rich spoil they captured in the wars. When they returned i 
to Rome to enjoy their new wealth and display their j 
power, the general usually had little trouble in persuad- | 
ing his soldiers and the citizens to elect him consul. ! 
Sometimes he was consul for several years in succession. 

The return of a successful general to Rome was usually ; 
celebrated by a " triumph." For a whole day the city gave 
itself a holiday to enjoy the magnificent pageant. First '\ 
in the procession that moved along the Sacred Way in ' 
full view of the crowds came the Roman senators. Fol- 
lowing them were trumpeters blowing their long, deep- i 
voiced pipes ; then trains of wagons loaded with the spoils 
of war — masses of gold and silver, statues, pictures, vases. | 
precious jewels, rich embroideries, and the arms and 
weapons of the enemy ; then came white bulls with gilded , 
horns, intended for sacrifice ; then elephants, camels, and 
whatever strange beasts might have been brought from 
the conquered country; then the captives, the most 
distinguished of them coming first in line ; and then, , 
proudest of all, the successful general, attired in a gold- 
starred toga, a laurel wreath on his brow, and seated in a J 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 



33 



splendid car drawn by four beautiful horses ; lastly came 
the Roman legions marching in line, singing songs of 
triumph or the praises of their commander, or jesting 
with the crowds of specta- 
tors. The procession wound 
slowly up the hill where stood 
the famous temple to Jupiter, 
the greatest of the Roman 
gods ; and after the chief 
captives had been taken aside 
and put to death, the bulls 
were slain as a sacrifice and 
the general's laurel wreath 
was presented as an offering 
to the god. 

Julius Caesar. Of all the 
Roman generals who w^on 
the favor of their soldiers 
and the people, the greatest 
by far was Julius Caesar. So 
great was his popularity in 
Rome that he was appointed 
to the governorship of the 

province of Gaul, with four legions at his command, for 
the long period of ten years. After he had succeeded in 
conquering the Gauls and bringing them to the point 
where they were willing to accept Roman government 




Julius C^sar 



34 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

and adopt Roman ways and customs, he returned to 
Rome. Here, by means of his army, his influence, and 
his energy, he got himself appointed dictator and so 
became absolute master of Rome. 

He proved to be as great a man at home as he had 
shown himself to be in war. If he had been allowed to 
live, he might have been the wisest ruler Rome ever had. 
But enemies sprang up who disliked some of his reforms 
and were fearful lest he might take the hated title of 
king. In the year 44 B.C., on the Ides of March,^ he fell 
a victim to their hatred and jealousy. As he was seated 
in the senate he was suddenly surrounded by a band of 
conspirators, among whom were men whom he had 
helped to wealth and position and had honored with his 
favor — above all, his deeply loved friend, Brutus. They 
set upon him with their swords and, overpowering him, 
stabbed him until he fell, pierced with twenty-three 
wounds. 

No sooner had the conspirators killed Caesar than they 
began to fight with one another. The streets of Rome 
were filled with bloodshed and strife. Bands of soldiers 
roamed about, plundering and slaying. For thirteen 
years, both in Rome itself and in the provinces out- 
side the city, there was no relief from the disorder 
and misery caused by continual warfare among the 
party leaders. 

1 The fifteenth of March, according to the Roman calendar. 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 



35 



Augustus and the beginnings of the Roman Empire. Dur- 
ing these long years of civil war a young grandnephew 
of Julius Caesar, named Octavius, proved himself to be the 
most powerful and popular leader. Caesar's old soldiers 
preferred him to the other 
commanders, and he de- 
feated one by one the men 
who opposed him. Then 
he took upon himself the 
duties of all the chief mag- 
istrates of the city and gath- 
ered into his own hands 
the reins of government. 

After gaining the vic- 
tory over his last enemy in 
the year 31 b.c. he became 
in reality a king, although 
he was far too wise to as- 
sume the title. He took in- 
stead the title of imperator, 
or commander in chief. 

This made him the head of the army, and, as the army 
had come to be the most powerful body at Rome, he was 
able with its aid to hold his position undisturbed. The 
Roman people did not oppose him, for they were only too 
glad to let the government remain in hands that could 
give them peace and quiet after the bloodshed of the past. 




Augustus 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



Besides the title of imperator, from which our word 
" emperor " comes, the senate granted Octavius that of 
AugiistMs, or " the Majestic," and it is by this name 

that he is usually known — 
Augustus Caesar, the first 
emperor of Rome. His reign 
lasted forty-five years — the 
'' Golden Age " of Rome it 
is called. During this time 
he bent all his energies and 
powers to establishing and 
preserving the peace of his 
people. He defended rather 
than extended the borders 
of the Empire and greatly 
improved the government of 
the provinces. He encour- 
aged men of letters, poets, 
and historians by his appre- 
ciation of their works. So 
successful was he in estab- 
lishing law and order that 
the Roman people paid honors to him as a god and called 
him the Divine Augustus. 

During his reign he also improved and beautified 
Rome with many noble buildings — temples, theaters, 
arches, columns, and baths. It was his boast, so the 




Column of the Roman Emperor 
Trajan 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 37 

story goes, that he had found Rome a city of brick and 
left it one of marble. 

At first the monuments and statues and works of 
art with which Rome came to be adorned were the 
work of Greek artists, for the Romans were slow in 
developing much skill of their own. In time, however, 
Roman artists arose who were successful in copying 
Greek works of art and in originating some new styles. 
A triumphal arch, such as is shown on page 72, and 
the commemorative column on the opposite page are 
purely Roman creations. In the time of Augustus and 
during the reigns of succeeding emperors, great numbers 
of portrait busts and statues of distinguished Romans 
were made by Roman sculptors. 

Section 7. The Greeks 

Refinement of the Greeks. We have seen how the Ro- 
mans, while they were engaged in conquering Italy, came 
in contact with Greeks who had settled in the southern 
part of the country, and how the beautiful buildings and 
delightful ease and pleasure of their cities had made the 
Romans realize the coarseness and discomforts of their 
own little town of Rome. They made further acquaint- 
ance with the Greeks when, during the Punic wars, they 
gained possession of Sicily and the glorious Greek cities, 
especially Syracuse and Agrigentum, that had for centu- 
ries been flourishing on the island. 



38 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

All this had taken place before the year 146 B.C. In 
that year the Romans invaded Greece itself. This they 
also conquered and made into a Roman province, reduc- 
ing to utter ruin the beautiful Greek city of Corinth. 

The Roman army that captured and sacked the city 
of Corinth brought back to Rome from the ruined city 
countless treasures of art — lovely statues, paintings, and 
bronzes, carved vases and urns of marble, rich silver plate 
and jewels, and all that went to the beautifying of Greek 
homes and temples. From every part of Greece, wherever 
there was a temple adorned with offerings to the gods, 
the Romans carried off these treasures to ornament their 
own homes and public buildings. Books were brought 
over, too, and it soon became the fashion for rich men to 
have a library filled with the works of Greek writers. The 
sight of all these marvels, added to those that had already 
been brought into Rome from Sicily, so roused the won- 
der and interest of Roman citizens that every man of 
wealth and taste longed to visit Greece and to know 
something of the Greek language and literature. 

The Romans generally learned the Greek language 
from educated Greeks who had been carried off from their 
homes, after their country had been conquered by the 
Romans, to become the slaves of Roman gentlemen. Al- 
though they were slaves, these Greeks became teachers 
of their masters' children, and often read Greek history, 
poetry, and philosophy to their masters themselves. 




Head uf Athena 



39 



40 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Educated Romans thus came to know well all the Greek 
writers. By the time of Augustus the Romans had be- 
come so enthusiastic in their admiration of Greek liter- 
ature, philosophy, art, architecture, and ways of living, 
that the whole Roman civilization was under the influence 
of the Greeks. 

In early days the Romans never thought of writing 
books, nor would they have known enough or had the 
time, if they had wished to do it. But after they made 
acquaintance with the Greek people they began to trans- 
late Greek plays and poems into their own language, 
Latin. All the great Roman writers read the Greek au- 
thors carefully, and most of them copied Greek models. 

Greek architecture. We have already spoken of the 
effect of Greek ideas on the Roman ways of living, and 
of how the Romans had improved their homes both in 
beauty and in comfort after they had seen the homes of 
the Greeks. The Romans imitated also the wonderful 
public buildings of the Greeks. 

In every Greek city were to be found public gym- 
nasiums, where young men and even older ones went 
for training in every sort of gymnastic exercise. After 
the exercise and a bath they used to meet for a talk 
with their friends in the cool porticoes and corridors, 
or in the gardens, fresh with plashing fountains and 
shaded by pleasant trees. These attractive places, adorned 
with statues and vases, with marble seats and columned 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 



41 





porches, were imitated by the Romans in their pubHc 
bathing halls. Here the Roman gentlemen came daily 
for a bath, and for gossip or more serious talk with 
one another afterwards. The baths themselves and the 
meetings in the bathing halls were so popular that no 
Roman town was complete without such establishments. 

It was in the _^^ 

building of their '^.- .^^^^^^ 

temples, however, 
where sacrifices 
and ceremonies in 
honor of their gods 
were performed, 
that the Greeks 
surpassed all other 
people. In Athens, 
the chief city of 
Greece, one can 
to-day get the best 
notion of this art 

of the ancient Greeks, for it was on the broad and level 
top of the Athenian Acropolis — a rocky height over- 
looking the town — that the Athenians built some of 
the most beautiful temples in the world. 

These temples were built of marble and adorned with 
carvings and statues. Leading up to them from the town 
was a long flight of steps, with marble columns at the top. 



H* iili" 




14 



The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum, 
A Temple on the Acropolis 



42 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The most famous of tlic temples was called the Parthenon, 
dedicated to the worship of Athena, the favorite goddess 
of the city. This building is still standing, though many 
of its columns have fallen, and all of its statues have 
been destroyed or carried away. Yet even in its ruin, 
rising above the city bclow^ it seems one of the noblest 
buildinos in the world. ThrouHi the citv streets and 
up the long flight of steps, moving in stately file be- 
tween the columns, and on into the Parthenon itself, 
the religious processions of the .\thenians used to pass, 
on their way to make offerings and sacrifices at the 
altar of the goddess Athena. In the procession were 
the priests, with their attendants leading flower-decked 
animals for sacrifice, maidens carrying in baskets the 
implements used in the sacrifice, old men bearing olive 
branches, warriors on prancing horses, and victors in 
athletic contests.-^ 

Greek columns, as shown in the illustration on page 
44, were of three kinds — called Doric, Ionic, and Corin- 
thian. The Romans used all three in building their tem- 
ples. We also use them to-day in our columned buildings, 
so we may see many examples of them in our city streets 
if we keep our eyes open in going to and fro. They may 
vary in some ways from the old forms, but they are never- 
theless much the same, and it is usually easy to determine 

1 Such a procession was carved on the celebrated marble frieze which adorned 
the walls of the Parthenon. 




43 



44 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

to which order they belong — whether they are of Doric, 
Ionic, or Corinthian style. 

The Greek theaters, also, were copied by the Romans. 
They were very different from our notion of a theater. 
The most striking difference lay in the fact that the 
Greek structure had no roof or side walls. The audience 




Doric Ionic Corinthian 

Upper Part of the Three Styles of Greek Pillars 



sat out in the open air, under the sky, as one would at a 
ball game to-day. In countries like Greece and Italy, 
where the climate is warm and there are long periods of 
dry weather, it would be comfortable enough to have 
such theaters. They were often built on a hillside. 
Spaces were cut out for the circular rows of stone seats 
that ran from the bottom to the top, and the whole was 
built with such skill that even a whisper on the stage 



THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 45 

could be heard quite clearly by those of the audience 
occupying the outermost seats.-^ 

Influence of the Greeks. So the Romans took one thing 
after another from the Greeks and adapted it to their 
own uses, never, however, equaling the perfection of 
what they copied. 

As the Roman Empire increased in size and spread 
over most of the countries around the Mediterranean 
Sea and over those farther away from Rome, Roman 
officers and governors were sent out to take charge of 
the different provinces — to Asia and Africa, to Gaul 
and Spain, and later even to Britain. Wherever they 
w^ent they tried to live in the same way that they had 
lived at home. They built their elegant villas and tem- 
ples and theaters, even in remote provinces perhaps a 
thousand miles away from Rome, and adorned them with 
marble and bronze statues and silver plate brought from 
their Roman homes. They doubtless also took their 
books with them, both Greek and Latin, when they went 
to live in a new country. In this way the Greek ideas 
and influence made themselves felt not only in Rome 
and Italy, but in all the important towns that grew up in 
the countries that the Romans had conquered. 

So the Greeks civilized and taught the Romans, and 
the Romans spread throughout their great empire what 

1 Such an open-air theater has been constructed at the University of Cahfornia, 
at Berkeley, near San Francisco. 



46 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

they learned from the Greeks ; and we to-day sometimes 
imitate the Greek and Roman buiklings, we admire their 
statues more than any others that have been made since, 
and we teach their languages in our colleges. Homer 
and Virgil are still read with pleasure, and we accept 
many of the things that the wise men of Greece thought 
about the best ways of living and thinking. But modern 
men of science have learned a great deal more than the 
Greeks knew about the world in which we live — about ani- 
mals, plants, and chemicals, and about the sun, moon, and 
stars. The Greeks never invented machines such as we now 
have, and never dreamed of a locomotive or a telephone. 
They left all the hard work to slaves that they captured 
in their wars, and did not believe, as we do, that every one 
should be permitted to rise as high as he is capable of do- 
ing, and that no human being should be owned by another. 

Questions, l. Give an example of a legend. 2. With what weapons 
do you think the Roman soldier fought ? (See the illustration on page 
2 1.) 3. Can you find out why the language of the Romans was called 
Latin ? 4. What is the difference between a monarchy and a republic .'' 
5. In what ways were the Greeks far in advance of the Romans ? 6. Were 
they in advance of us in any way ? 

References. Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome (especially Horatius 
at the Bridge). Botsford. Story of Rome, as the Greeks and Romans 
Tell It. Mahaffy. Greek Antiquities (an interesting account of the 
character and customs of the Greeks). Shaw. Stories of the Ancient 
Greeks. Carpenter. Long Ago in Greece. Plutarch. Vol. I, Tales 
of the Greeks ; and Vol. II, Tales of the Romans, edited by F. J. Gould. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 

The Roman Emperor Claudius invades Britain. Boadicea and Caractacus. 
Roman governors in Britain. Roman roads, walls, aqueducts, amphitheaters, 
and houses. Roman ornaments and household utensils found in Britain. Books 
and writing materials. How the Britons were Romanized during the four hun- 
dred years that their country belonged to the Roman Empire 

Section 8. The Roman Conquest of Britain 

The long struggle that made Britain a Roman province" 
began about a hundred years after Julius Caesar landed on 
its shores. During these hundred years the wild Britons 
had grown to be somewhat less like barbarians than in 
Caesar's time. Some of them had even made the long 
journey to Rome and had seen with their own eyes the 
wonders of that city. Yet wars were constantly going 
on among them, and the more powerful chieftains were 
always seeking to increase their possessions by conquer- 
ing other tribes. At last one of these princes, it is said, 
fled to Rome, to appeal to the Emperor Claudius for help 
against his enemies. Claudius, who had already resolved 
upon the conquest of Britain, counted this a good excuse 
for invading the island, and in 43 a.d. sent a force of 60,000 
men to carry out his design. 

47 



48 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The conquest did not prove so simple an affair as 
the Roman emperor had expected. It took many more 
legions and generals than he had provided, and he 
himself did not live to see it accomplished. Again 
and again, after it seemed that they had been sub- 
dued, tribes in one part of the island or another rose 
against the Romans, and the final conquest was not 
completed until almost a hundred years after the in- 
vasion under Claudius. 

Heroic Britons. In these long years of fighting against 
the Roman legions there were two Britons, Boadicea 
and Caractacus, who distinguished themselves especi- 
ally. Their courage and patriotism were celebrated in 
after times in many a song and story. Boadicea was a 
great warrior queen whose house and lands the Roman 
soldiers seized and plundered, after cruelly illtreating 
her and her daughters. In revenge she roused some of 
the tribes to revolt and gathered an army from among 
them. We are told how she rode along the battle line 
in her war chariot, fully armed, urging the Britons on- 
to battle against the Roman armies. 

A writer of the times thus describes her as she ad- 
dressed her followers : " She was tall in stature, hard vis- 
aged, and with fiercest eye ; she had a rough voice, and 
an abundance of bright yellow hair reaching down to her 
girdle. She wore a great collar of gold, with a tunic of 
divers colors drawn close around her bosom, and a thick 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 49 

mantle over it, fastened with a clasp. So she was always 
dressed, but now she bore a lance in her hand to make 
her words more terrible." For many months she was suc- 
cessful in her battle for British freedom. She captured 
important Roman fortresses and caused great losses to 
the Roman legions. She was finally defeated, however, 
and in despair at her failure she took her own life. 



Caractacus before the Roman Emperor 

Caractacus was a prince who defied the Roman legions 
for nine years. He roused one tribe after another to re- 
sist them, and admitted no defeat until he was at last 
taken prisoner through treachery and was carried in 
chains with his family to Rome. The Roman people 
were wild with curiosity to see what sort of man it might 
be who had dared oppose the Romans for so many years, 
and for their amusement he and his family were exhibited 



50 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

in the city streets. First in the procession came the serv- 
ants and followers of Caractacus, carrying all his orna- 
ments and splendid trappings ; next came his brothers 
and his wife and daughter; and last himself, attracting 
the attention of all. 

His family, when they appeared before the Emperor, 
began at once to beg him to have pity on them. Carac- 
tacus alone, we are told, remained silent and unmoved. It 
may have been his courage no less than the tears and 
prayers of his family that moved the Emperor to pardon 
his stubborn resistance, for forgiveness seems to have been 
readily granted him, as well as permission to live in Italy 
with his family for the rest of his life. But in spite of the 
comforts and advantages of the new life among civilized 
people, he must often have longed for the wild freedom 
of his home in distant Britain. He is said to have viewed 
with amazement the beautiful buildings at Rome, and to 
have expressed wonder that men who owned such palaces 
should envy the Britons their poor huts, or take the 
trouble to conquer their country. 

Province of Britain. As soon as the native British chief- 
tains had finally surrendered, a governor, with a force of 
soldiers at his command, was sent out from Rome to 
keep order in Britain, so that the Roman officials who 
came there to live should enjoy the same peace and quiet 
that prevailed at home. It was the duty of the governor 
to introduce into the new country the same laws that the 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 51 

Romans had made for themselves. He appointed the 
collectors of the yearly tribute that Britain, like the other 
Roman provinces, was now compelled to send to Rome ; 
and he required the natives to w^orship the Emperor as a 
god, as w^as common everywhere throughout the Empire. 

The burden of taxes laid on the Britons was very heavy. 
Men were taxed for the land they cultivated and for the 
produce they sold in the markets. They were obliged to 
keep the new Roman roads and bridges in repair, and to 
entertain Roman officials and their bodyguards whenever 
they made trips through the country. Some, in despair, 
gave up cultivating their fertile farms and let them go to 
waste. The poorer people, who were taxed for every cow 
and sheep they owned, were cruelly beaten if they failed 
to pay the tax. They finally became so poor that they 
were bought and sold with the lands they tilled, like slaves, 
or else w^ere forced into service in the Roman army. 

Roman roads. When the Romans came to Britain they 
found a country almost entirely covered with thick woods. 
So dense were some of these forests that it was almost 
impossible to make one's way through them. There were 
also great stretches of swampy land, useless either for 
farming or grazing, and many of the rivers were so 
choked with fallen trees that no boat could navigate 
them. 

One of the first things done by the early Roman gov- 
ernors to improve these conditions was to make good 



52 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

roads connecting the different forts in which the soldiers 
were stationed. Thus in time of danger the legions could 
be assembled on short notice. The wretched Britons 
were compelled to toil like slaves in making these roads, 
cutting down forests and draining swampS ; but the 




Old Roman Road in England 



country was much safer to live in after the highways 
were built, while the cutting down of the forests and the 
draining of the swamps increased the farming land and 
tended to make the climate more healthful and agreeable. 
The roads extended to every important place in the 
province. North, east, south, and west ran four great 
highways, and smaller roads branched off from them in 
every direction. They connected, too, with roads on the 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 53 

other side of the EngHsh Channel leading directly to 
Rome. Better roads have seldom been built. Four dif- 
ferent layers of carefully prepared stone, sand, and gravel 
were laid in a deep trench on a hard bottom, and the 
whole mass was then pounded into a firm, even surface. 
Although they were built eighteen hundred years ago, 
the remains of many of them are still to be seen. Some 
of them became the foundation of later English roads, 
while others are found crossing parts of England that 
are now rarely traveled. 

Section 9. Roman Remains 

Walls and aqueducts. Remains of other Roman works, 
also, can still be seen in England. The most impres- 
sive are those of the great wall that Hadrian, one of 
the Roman emperors, built across the island from Solway 
Firth on the west coast to the Tyne River on the east, a 
distance of seventy miles. This wall was built to protect 
the Roman towns from the savage tribes in the north. It 
was nearly twenty feet high and more than six feet thick, 
with fortified gates and turrets every mile or so. A deep 
ditch ran along the northern, or outer, side, and a smooth 
wide road, with an earth wall beyond it, lay on the south- 
ern, or inner, side. There were many well-fortified camps 
along its course, garrisoned by soldiers. 

The Romans had a great love of pure water for drink- 
ing and bathing, and in order to bring it down from the 



54 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



mountains and hills into their cities they constructed 
enormous aqueducts. These were channels of brick or 
stone, sometimes built underground, but mostly after the 
fashion shown in the illustration on this page. Through 
these channels, extending on their lofty arches for many 




Old Roman Aqueduct at Nimes, France 



miles across the country, the water was carried straight 
over hill and valley to reservoirs outside the city. From 
there it was sent in pipes to the houses of citizens, to the 
public fountains, and to the great public bath halls. It is 
said that there were at least nine aqueducts in Rome it- 
self, and that each citizen had almost twice as much water 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 55 

for his daily use as he would have in one of our modern 
cities. The massive walls of many of these old aqueducts 
are still standing in countries that once belonged to Rome. 
There are none, however, to be found in England, though 
there are remains of baths, showing the skillful arrange- 
ments made by the Romans to provide rooms with hot, 
cold, and tepid water. 

Roman amphitheaters. Another kind of building, of 
which traces are found in every country in which the 
Romans lived, was the amphitheater. The amusement 
dearest to a Roman's heart was a gladiatorial combat. 
In all Roman towns of any size or importance shows 
of this sort were provided for every public occasion, 
sometimes by the government, sometimes by politicians, 
who treated the people to them as a favorite means 
of getting their votes. The fight took place in an amphi- 
theater, an enormous building, with tiers of seats, like 
those round a circus, and a big oval space in the middle. 
The oval space was called the arena, from the Latin 
word for " sand," because it was covered with sand in 
order that the blood of the victims killed in the combat 
might be quickly absorbed. 

Upon this arena, of which all the spectators sitting 
in the rows of seats above had a good view, the shows 
and contests took place. Sometimes there was a fight 
between lions, or tigers, or elephants, brought from Asia 
and Africa, but generally gladiators fought the wild beasts. 



56 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The gladiators were either criminals or captives taken in 
war, who were compelled to fight for their lives in the 
arena, or else they w^ere men especially trained for this 
sort of fighting in schools established for the purpose. 
Sometimes they succeeded in slaying the wild beast, 
sometimes they were themselves slain, but however the 
combat resulted it was always a cruel one. Besides fight- 
ing lions and tigers, gladiators sometimes fought with 
each other till one was killed. Sometimes criminals 
or Christian martyrs^ were thrown into the arena to be 
devoured by wild beasts. 

Traces of at least three amphitheaters are found in 
England, and in Italy in Roman times there are said to 
have been eighty. The greatest of them all was the Col- 
osseum at Rome. It was so vast that more than 40,000 
spectators could find room in it, and we are told that at its 
dedication shows were given in it lasting a hundred days, 
during which 5000 wild beasts were slain on its arena. 

Roman houses. Even more interesting, perhaps, than the 
remains of Roman roads and walls, of amphitheaters, aque- 
ducts, and baths, are the traces of dwelling houses that are 
found in all countries that once were Roman provinces, 
and the curious things tliat have been unearthed among 
their foundations; for it is from these that we learn 
something of the manner of living of the Romans. 

^ The Christians who refused to worship the Emperor and the goddess of the 1 

city of Rome were regarded as traitors and were punished accordingly. 1 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 



57 



A Roman's fashion of building his home differed from 
ours in many respects. The house, one or two stories 
high, was entered through a sort of wide hall, richly 
paved with tiles and adorned with statues and flowering 
plants. This led into the large main room of the house, 




Remains of Old Roman Baths, at Bath, England 

called the atritan. Here waxen images of the ancestors 
of the family and other relics of the past were kept, and 
here visitors were received. The roof of the atrium was 
supported by pillars, and in its center was a square open- 
ing by which the room was lighted. As the Romans do 
not seem to have made use of window glass, this opening 




58 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 



59 



was uncovered, and beneath it, in the colored mosaic pave- 
ment of the floor, was a marble basin to receive the rain. 



(i 


III i|W||i|i;.||||||tJ|| 


S 


^li% 


/.-.;■''■ 


wmm'^v 






■"m^, ' ■ 






^^^.. 


^^^ 






'^'^^ 


r^^W. ••* « 


"^'^^^ 


V^K ' :;/ 


^^1 


^^^ 


'■'^i -" ; ';-'•• ^""■'^'■^ 


• • 


H 


S^^^ill^i 






■"■■ ■ ■" 11^'*^ 



Roman Mosaic from Pompeii 



Beyond the atrium one looked into a court open to the 
sky, a charming fashion of building that the Romans had 
learned from the Greeks. Around the court ran a colon- 
naded portico from which rooms opened. The pillars. 



6o INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the beautiful shrubs and flowers with which the court 
was planted, the fountain in the center, the statues and 
vases adorning it, all made it a delightful outdoor room 
in which the family might gather. Beyond this court, in 
country houses, lay flower gardens, terraces, and orchards. 

The rooms that surrounded the atrium and the court 
were used for various purposes. In the houses of the 
wealthy there were dining and sleeping rooms, bathrooms 
furnished with hot and cold water, parlors, rooms for tak- 
ing sun baths, gymnasiums, kitchens, storerooms, servants' 
rooms, and pantries. There was, too, a sort of chapel, 
where images of the household gods — the /a7^es 3.nd 
pe7iates — were kept, and where offerings of cakes and 
fruits were laid on their altars. The remains of some 
Roman country houses extend over several acres. 

In the foundations of the houses and in the earth 
round about them, all kinds of utensils, implements, and 
ornaments have been dug up, after having lain in the 
ground for more than a thousand years. Among these 
have been found big earthen jars for wine ; bronze cook- 
ing kettles, some of them showing where they had been 
mended ; remains of scales with curious weights in the 
shape of heads and hearts; spoons made of bronze and 
bone ; and bronze keys which their owners seem to have 
carried on key rings much as we do to-day. Little hand 
mills for grinding grain have been found ; and iron horse- 
shoes, hatchet and ax heads, and sword blades have been 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 



6i 



picked up, along with various kinds of knives and shears, 

and instruments that appear to have been used in surgery. 

Among the more ornamental objects found near the 

villas are table silver, charming hand mirrors of polished 




Old Roman Spoons, Bracelets, Keys, Hairpins, and Sandals 
FOUND IN England 



bronze, long pins of bone and bronze which the Roman 
ladies wore in their hair, combs with double rows of teeth 
made of bone or bronze, bronze nail dressers, sandals, 
brooches with which men , and women pinned up their 
flowing outside garments, beautifully engraved rings, and 
necklaces of gold or colored-glass beads. 



62 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 







Roman books and writing materials. All the articles 
just mentioned interest us because they are not, after all, 
so very unlike what we use to-day. There is one Roman 
implement, however, the styhis, that arouses our interest 
because it is so different from anything we use in our 
daily life. When a Roman wished to write anything 
down he did not take paper and pen, as we do. He used, 
instead, a tablet or thin square of wood 
which had been covered with a coating 
of black wax, and wrote on it with his 
stylus. The stylus was made of metal, 
one end pointed and the other fiat, and 
was about the size of a small penholder. 
He wrote with the pointed end, using 
the flat end for erasing and for smooth- 
ing out the wax again. When he wished 
to write a letter, he took several tablets, 
wrote his letter on them, tied them to- 
gether with a strong cord, and sent 
them off by a messenger. The person who received the 
letter, after reading it, erased it with his stylus, wrote 
his answer on the same tablets, and sent them back 
again. Many of these Roman pens have been found in 
England, and occasionally one of the wooden frames of 
the wax tablets. 

The books of the Romans, too, were different from 
anything we see to-day. Instead of being made up of a 




Old Roman Book 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 63 

number of sheets of printed paper, fastened together and 
inclosed within stiff covers, they consisted of sheets of 
papyrus, pasted together into one long strip, which was 
rolled up when not in use. The writing — for all books 
were written by hand with a reecl or quill pen in those 
days and for many hundred years afterwards — was in 
columns. A roll of papyrus several yards long was neces- 
sary for even a short book, and some books covered sev- 
eral rolls. The reader held the roll in both hands, slowly 
unrolling it with one hand as he read, and rolling it up 
with the other. Usually only one side of the long strip was 
written on. Sometimes the other side of old books was 
used for schoolboys' exercises or for scribbling paper. The 
roll was kept in a parchment cover colored red or yellow. 

The papyrus sheets were made in Egypt from a reed- 
like plant, growing along the Nile. The pithy inner part 
of the plant's stalk was cut into strips, laid on boards, 
moistened with paste, then covered with a second layer 
of strips laid crosswise, and the two pressed together 
until they formed one sheet. After this had been dried 
and polished it was ready for use. Our word " paper " is 
derived from the Latin word papyrus, 

Roman religion. The Romans introduced their own re- 
ligion into Britain — the worship of Jupiter and Minei'va, 
of Mars and Venus, of the many lesser gods and god- 
desses that they held sacred, as well as the worship of 
the emperor. They built temples, too, of the same style, 



64 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



From the Twenti- 



copied from the beautiful Greek buildings, as they built 
everywhere in the other provinces belonging to the 
Roman Empire. 

Some of the altars that they erected to their gods and 
to the various spirits that were thought to keep guard 
over fields and woods and springs have been found in 
England, as well as little bronze images of the gods and 
goddesses, and stone statues of them. One of the most 
charming of these altars is inscribed, 
eth Legion, the Valiant and Victori 
ous, to the Nymphs and Fountains." 

How Britain became Roman. Grad- 
ually the people of Britain, like those 
of the Roman provinces everywhere, 
learned to dress and live like their 
Roman conquerors, to speak Latin, 
and to take pleasure in the same 
amusements. In Roman times, in fact, 
an educated Briton would have felt 
at home in Gaul, in Italy, in Egypt, or in any of the 
Roman provinces, for wherever he went he would find 
men speaking the same language as himself, reading the 
same books, obeying the same laws, using the same kind 
of money, weights, and measures, enjoying the same 
amusements, worshiping the same gods, and feeling the 
same pride in calling himself a Roman citizen and in 
paying homage to the Roman emperor. 




Roman Altar found 
IN England 



THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN 65 

All these things made up the Roman civilization, 
namely, their code of laws, their religion, their ways of 
living, their skill in constructing houses, roads, walls, 
aqueducts, and fine public buildings, their language, 
their books, and their system of government; and it is 
the teaching of their civilization to the different people 
they conquered that is called the Romanizing of these 
people. 

The process of Romanizing the Britons was a long 
one, but in the four hundred years during which the Ro- 
mans remained in the country it was so thoroughly done 
that little trace of the Britons of Caesar's time could be 
found. Their descendants had come to love too well the 
ease and comfort of the Roman way of living. The quiet 
and order that prevailed under Roman protection, and 
their lives of inaction, had well-nigh smothered the wild, 
free spirit and the courage in battle that Britons like 
Boadicea and Caractacus ^ had shown in early days. 
When, at last, about 400 a.d., the Romans were com- 
pelled to withdraw their legions from Britain in order 
to protect their borders nearer home, the dependent 
Britons, having almost no leaders of courage and ability 
and few soldiers other than the miserable laborers on the 
farms and estates, were not able to defend their island 
from the new invaders that had already begun to make 
their way across the sea from Germany. 

1 See p. 48. 



66 .INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Questions, l. What is a mosaic ? 2. Why do you suppose the Romans 
did not write their letters on papyrus ? 3. What do the letters a.d. mean 
after a date ? 4. What can you find out about Pompeii ? 5. Were the 
Romans more civilized than we in any way ? 6. In what ways were they 
uncivilized ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, p. 23 (a Roman 
attack on the Britons) ; p. 25 (Boadicea) ; pp. 26-27 (Agricola, a Roman 
governor). Bates and Coman. English History Told by English Poets, 
p. I (a passage from Shakespeare's Cymbeline) ; p. 4 (Boadicea). Kip- 
ling. Puck of Pook's Hill. 



CHAPTER V 

THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

How Caesar and later Roman generals fought with the Germans. Their ways 
of life, government, religion, and amusements. How Germans gradually settled 
in Roman provinces. The battle of Adrianople. Alaric, the Goth, makes his 
way to Rome. Constantinople becomes the capital of the eastern part of the 
Roman Empire. German leaders establish kingdoms in the western half of 
the Roman Empire. The Germans invade England. Almost all traces of the 
Romans disappear in England 

Section io. The Early Germans 

German tribes. If one looks at a map of the Roman 
Empire, one sees on the northern borders of the realm a 
great stretch of country called Germania. In Roman 
times this was a vast and dismal region, shaggy with 
thick forests and impassable in many places on account 
of deep swamps and steep mountain heights. Scattered 
throughout its length and breadth there lived many tribes 
belonging to the great German family, among them the 
Goths, Franks, Angles, and Saxons. 

While Julius Caesar was conquering Gaul he attacked 
some Germans that had crossed the Rhine to seize land 
belonging to the Gauls. He found them a brave, hardy 
people, so skillful in fighting that he had no little trouble 
in driving them back again across the river. 

67 



68 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Description of the Germans. The Germans were not 
savages, in spite of the wildness of their country. They 
hved in houses, raised crops of grain, and had herds 
of cattle. Their food was very simple, for they lived 
on the grain they raised, the game they shot, the wild 
fruit they found in the woods, and a sort of cheese made 
of curdled milk. They were also fond of beer, as the 
Germans still are. 

The men were tall and powerful, with fierce blue eyes 
and reddish hair and beards. Their clothing was scanty, 
for they wore but one garment, which was usually made 
of the skins of beasts and which left much of the body 
exposed. Even in the cold of winter this single garment 
was all they put on. The women wore linen garments, 
often colored purple or red. They were greatly respected 
by the men, whom they frequently assisted with their 
good counsel. In time of war they urged their husbands 
and sons on to battle and cheered them during the fight 
with shouts of encouragement, or heaped abuse on them 
if they fled before the enemy. 

The Germans regarded their older and more experi- 
enced men with especial reverence. In all meetings to 
consider the management of the affairs of a tribe, the 
elders took the lead in discussing and deciding questions. 
The younger men were very respectful to them, even 
counting it a disgrace to attempt to surpass them in 
deeds of daring. 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 69 

Like the Greeks and Romans, the Germans worshiped 
many gods, but were not accustomed to make images of 
them nor to build temples to them. They preferred to 
perform their devotions in beautiful groves and glades 
sacred to the gods. They were exceedingly hospitable. 




Old Roman Bridge at Alcantara, Spain 



entertaining any one who came to their doors and pro- 
tecting him like one of their own kin, as long as he was 
under their roof. 

The Germans and the Romans. These German peoples 
made their way again and again across the borders of the 
Roman Empire ; and long before the Romans abandoned 
Britain and took their legions back to Italy, they had be- 
gun to sail over to the island and make raids upon its 
coast towns, carrying off whatever food and treasure 
they could lay their hands upon. 



70 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Roman government fought back the bands of 
German soldiers who attempted to force their way across 
the frontiers of the Empire, but small numbers of Ger- 
man settlers, bringing their household goods and posses- 
sions, were often allowed to cross over into the Roman 
provinces of Gaul or northern Italy and settle down 
without opposition. The tribes who entered the Empire 
in this peaceable fashion were considered immigrants 
rather than invaders. Roman officials granted them land 
on which to settle, and the men were drafted into the 
Roman army. The Romans and Germans intermarried, 
and in the course of a generation or two there came to be 
little distinction between them. 

In the later times of the Roman Empire a large part 
of the army was made up of Germans, and many of the 
best officers in command of the legions were Germans or 
their descendants. Some of the Roman emperors even 
invited large colonies of Germans to settle in Roman 
provinces, asking in return that they fight in defense 
of their adopted country whenever it was in danger. 

Section ii. Last Days of the Roman Empire 

Battle of Adrianople. There were times, however, when 
German settlers came into the Roman territory in such 
numbers that the government was at a loss to find homes 
and occupation for them all, and difficulties arose which 
resulted in battles between the two peoples. One Roman 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 71 

historian, who had been a soldier in the Roman army, 
tells of an occasion when the Germans came over in such 
numbers as to overwhelm the Roman forces. 

The eastern part of Germany just north of the Danube 
was occupied by a tribe called the Goths. While they 
were living, peaceably there, farming their land and tend- 
ing their cattle, they received sudden news of an ap- 
proaching invasion of Huns — a wild, savage people 
from Asia, who had pushed their way across the bleak, 
arid plains of eastern Europe into the more fertile coun- 
try of the Germans, plundering, burning, and slaying 
everywhere. 

At the approach of the Huns the Goths fled in terror 
from their little homes and fields, leaving their lands and 
flocks to become the spoil of the invaders. They hurried 
south to the banks of the Danube and sent messengers 
to ask permission to settle in the Roman provinces on 
the other side of the river, where so many Germans had 
already made their homes. The Roman officials gave the 
desired permission, although they were astonished by the 
great throngs of immigrants who kept crossing the river 
in an unending stream of boats, until their numbers 
seemed like the sands of the sea. 

The officials, however, had made no suitable prepara- 
tions in the way of food and shelter for these newcomers, 
until such time as they could make homes for themselves. 
The Goths complained bitterly of the treatment they 



72 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



received, saying that when they were in need of food the 
Romans took advantage of them by forcing them to sell 
even their wives and children into slavery, and that often 
they got only dogs' meat in payment. Smarting under 
this injustice they resolved to fight for their rights; 




?:i 



-^ . v.^-^' 



Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it appears To-day 



and they not only fought the Romans, but defeated 
them on their own soil in the battle of Adrianople, 378. 
Alaric and the Goths. Made bold by this success the 
Germans went further than ever before into the country 
of the Romans. Some twenty years after the battle of 
Adrianople, Alaric, a Goth who had lived in a Roman 
province much of his life and had even held a position 
under the government, became the leader of the Goths. 
Having been refused a request for more land for his 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 73 

people and better pay for himself, he incited a band of 
Goths to revolt against the government, and finally led 
them down through Italy to Rome itself. He captured 
the city with little difficulty. But the splendors of the 
capital, with its temples and arches and columned build- 
ings, impressed him so deeply that he restrained his fol- 
lowers as far as possible from burning or destroying, and 
went away content with the load of treasure he and his 
men carried off. 

This sack of Rome (in 410) by Alaric made a great 
impression on the world, for it was the first time in hun- 
dreds of years that the sacred city of the Roman Empire 
had been entered by an invader and its treasures of gold 
and silver, precious vases and bronzes, silks and costly 
jewels, touched by an enemy's hands. 

Western Roman Empire. Rome was, however, at this 
time not the only capital of the vast Roman Empire. 
Some eighty years before Alaric and his Goths captured 
Rome, a new capital had been established by the Emperor 
Constantine, far to the east, in what is now Turkey. He 
called the new capital Constantinople, after himself. As 
the Romans had become accustomed to having two em- 
perors at a time (and sometimes even three or four), one 
of the emperors naturally made his headquarters in Con- 
stantinople and the other in Italy. One was supposed to 
defend the eastern part of the commonwealth and the 
other the western. 



74 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Germans in the Roman Empire. The Roman emperors 
at Constantinople were able to resist or defeat the Ger- 
man hordes that continued to press into the eastern por- 
tions of the Empire, and to defend the throne from their 
attacks. But the emperors in Italy were not so success- 
ful, and during the hundred years following Alaric's raid 
on Rome the western portions of the Empire were grad- 
ually occupied by various German tribes. The East Goths 
established a kingdom in Italy under their famous king, 
Theodoric, and the Franks invaded Gaul and established 
another kingdom under their chief, Clovis. In time the 
name of Gaul was changed to Frankland, or Francia, the 
land of the Franks ; and our modern name for France is 
therefore derived from the name of one of the German 
tribes who helped to break up the Roman Empire. 

A few of these German invaders who settled down in 
Italy, Gaul, and Spain were able to appreciate and eager 
to preserve all that the Romans had accomplished, but 
many cared little for such things. Sometimes they de- 
stroyed the buildings and treasures and sometimes they 
let them go to ruin through neglect. It is therefore 
mostly by a happy chance that any remains of the build- 
ings, works of art, and books of the Roman people have 
survived until our day. 

Fine and delicate works of art, such as statues, bronzes, 
and vases, were often preserved by having been buried in 
the earth or in the ruins of buildings, or sunk to the 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 75 

bottom of rivers and lakes, whence they have been 
rescued in modern times. Some of the books of the 
Greeks and Romans, containing their poems, histories, 
orations, and philosophy, have come down to us also, 
but most of these were lost forever, for the libraries 
were destroyed and there was no one to take care of 
the books and see that new copies were made of them. 




The Maison Carree, a Roman Temple still standing 
IN NiMES, France 

Besides these remains of the old Roman Empire, the 
world owes to the Romans the Latin language, which is 
the foundation of the languages spoken to-day by the 
people of France, Italy, and Spain. Words made from 
Latin form so large a part of the English language also, 
that we can scarcely speak a sentence that does not con- 
tain some of them. Another legacy left us by the Romans 
is their code of laws, some of which are so wise and just 



76 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

that men have never been able to improve upon them. 
Many of them are still in use in different countries of 
Europe, and their influence is seen in the laws of our 
own country. So, though the Roman Empire itself came 
to an end and passed away forever, the influence of the 
Roman ideas is still alive and perhaps will never alto- 
gether pass away. 

Section 12. The Germans in England 

Invasions of Britain. We have seen how the Germans 
made their way into Italy, Gaul, and Spain, and how the 
Roman Empire was gradually broken up. Let us turn 
now once more to Britain and the Britons. Even while 
the Romans still held sway there, three German tribes — 
the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons — had already made many 
attacks along the coast for the sake of plunder. After 
the Roman garrisons that used to guard the coast 
went back to Italy, these attacks and invasions became 
far more frequent and serious. At the same time 
that the Britons were suffering in this way from the 
Germans they were also greatly harassed by the wild 
Picts and Scots, who invaded their country from Ire- 
land and Scotland. All these troubles increased as the 
years went on. 

Beautiful stories were told in later times about a noble 
and heroic Christian king of the Britons, called Arthur, 
who tried to protect his subjects from the attacks of 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ^^ 

these heathen tribes, and who dwelt in splendid state 
with his fair queen, Guinevere, in a castle at Camelot, in 
Wales. With them lived many knights and ladies, " who 
served as patterns of valor, breeding, and grace to the 
whole world." Twelve of the bravest knights were chosen 
by Arthur to sit at table with him and were called the 
"Knights of the Round Table" — among them Sir 
Lancelot, Sir Perceval, and Sir Galahad. They went forth 
on quests of chivalry — to protect women, rescue the 
oppressed, punish wrongdoers, free the enchanted, and 
bring succor to all in distress. The stories about them 
are so beautiful that we do not like to believe what 
historians tell us — that they are only stories and not 
real history. 

The Britons were so sorely distressed by all the in- 
vaders that at last, according to one account, some of 
them wrote a letter to a great Roman general, imploring 
him to send back the Roman legions so that Britain might 
have help against her enemies. The Britons thought it 
better to run the risk of being again oppressed by the 
Romans than to be destroyed entirely by these new 
invaders. 

The piteous letter, however, brought no help, for the 
Romans had their hands full, fighting with Goths and 
Huns, and could pay no attention to the plea of the 
Britons. The latter then decided, so the old historians tell 
us, that rather than be entirely destroyed by the Picts and 



78 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Scots they would invite the Germans to help them de- 
fend the country, offering them land to settle on in pay- 
ment for their services.-^ 

Britain becomes England. This offer was not refused, 
and about the year 449 three long ships appeared off the 
coast of England, bringing bands of Germans under two 
leaders, Hengist and Horsa. Almost before they had 
taken up the fight against the Picts and Scots and driven 
them out of Britain, there came more and more ships from 
Germany, until Britain found herself overwhelmed with 
a new enemy worse than the old. For after the Germans 
had driven out the Picts and Scots, they refused to con- 
fine themselves to the lands that the Britons had given 
to them as a reward for their good services, and began to 
swarm over all England, carrying death and destruction 
everywhere. 

The wretched Britons were not able to hold their own 
and live on equal terms with the Germans, and in the 
end, after a struggle lasting two centuries, they were 
either slain or made slaves by the enemy, with the excep- 
tion of some who took refuge in Gaul and Ireland, and 
others who fled to the mountains of Wales, in which 
country their descendants still live and are known as 
Welshmen. 



1 Modern historians do not find very good proof of the old historians' story of 
this letter sent by the Britons to Rome, or of their invitation to the Germans to 
help them. 



THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 79 

After this we can no longer think of the island as 
the home either of Britons or of Romans. It became 
controlled almost entirely by the Angles and Saxons 
from Germany, and came to be called Angle land, which 
was later shortened to England. 

The Angles and Saxons were far less civilized than 
those other German tribes that had overrun France and 
Italy, and under their devastating hands the beautiful 
Roman houses and public buildings in England were 
reduced to ruins by pillage and fire. The churches that 
had been built by those who had given up their heathen 
gods and adopted the Christian religion were destroyed 
and their priests killed, except those that were fortunate 
enough to escape the enemy and make their way over 
the sea to Ireland. 

Almost all traces of the Roman civilization vanished. 
Some Latin names still survive in the names of towns 
ending in caster, or cester, like Lancaster or Gloucester, 
made from the Latin word castra (a camp), and marking 
the site of some old Roman camp town. The Romans 
had also introduced certain trees into England — elms, 
chestnuts, walnuts — and some vegetables, such as rad- 
ishes and peas ; but aside from these traces and those 
remains spoken of in Chapter IV, — the old wall, the 
roads, and the remains of Roman houses are the chief of 
these, — there is no sign to be found in the island to-day of 
the Roman conquerors who once ruled over the country. 



8o INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Questions, l. In what ways was the life led by the Germans in their 
own country different from that which they found when they crossed over 
into the Roman Empire ? 2. Why were the Roman buildings destroyed 
and the books of the Romans neglected and lost in those parts of the 
Empire in which the Germans settled ? 3. Can you find any poems or 
stories written about King Arthur and his Round Table ? 

References. Cheney. Readings in English History, pp. 32-34 (Britain 
after the departure of the Romans) ; pp. 37-40 (invasions of the Angles 
and Saxons) ; pp. 40-43 (Tacitus's account of the Germans) ; pp. 44-46 
(examples of Old German poetry). Robinson. Readings in European 
History, Vol. I, pp. 35-39 (the Huns and the Goths) ; p. 39 (battle of 
Adrianople). Botsford. The Story of Rome as the Greeks and Romans 
Tell It, pp. 208-2 10 (the Germans). Bates and Coman. English History 
told by English Poets, p. 6 (The Passing of Arthur). 



CHAPTER VI 

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS AND THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND 

Beginnings of Christianity in the time of Augustus. Early Christians organize 
themselves into a body called the Church, whose head was the Pope. Pope 
Gregory the Great sends Augustine to convert the people of England. Augus- 
tine and his monks convert the people of Kent. The story of this conver- 
sion told by The Venerable Bede. The founding of a monastery by St. Benedict. 
Bede's life in an English monastery 

Section 13. The Beginnings of Christianity 

Early Christians. Not many years after the first Roman 
emperor, Augustus, had died, and while the Roman 
Empire was still at its height, a new religion appeared. 
It was at first confined to the little province of Judea, in 
Palestine. Here a few followers of Jesus came together 
to worship God in a new way. They believed that the 
gods and goddesses of the Greeks and Romans w^ere 
evil spirits who delighted in misleading men, and they 
refused to offer sacrifices to their images. 

The beginnings of this new religion, called Christianity, 

were humble and obscure, but as its teachings became 

known, more and more people joined its ranks, and it was 

not long before some of the more eager and earnest of 

its followers began to feel that they ought to tell all 

the world of their faith. So we find the first Christian 

81 



82 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

missionaries, St. Peter, St Paul, and others, going out 
from Judea to preach the gospel in Athens, in Corinth, 
in Rome, and in all the chief cities of the Roman 
Empire. 

Everywhere they gained converts. There were many 
serious men and women among the Greeks and Romans 
who had become dissatisfied with their own religion, 
and who were very ready to adopt the new and beautiful 
belief of the Christians, that good deeds on earth would 
receive the reward of a happy, never-ending life beyond 
the grave. 

At first the Christians did not attract much attention 
from the Roman officials. They seemed to be quiet peo- 
ple, occupied only with their own affairs and content if 
they were allowed to hold their religious services undis- 
turbed. It was their habit to come together for these 
services in a secret meeting which they called the brother- 
hood, or Church. They also aided one another and cared 
for the sick, the unfortunate, and the needy among them, 
as real brothers would. They did not enter into the 
pleasures that most Romans enjoyed, never attended 
the shows in the circus or amphitheater, and showed in 
other ways their disapproval of such amusements. 

Naturally they soon began to be disliked for keeping 
to themselves in this fashion, and for looking down on 
the manner of life of the people about them ; but there 
was no interference with their doings until it was found 



THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 83 

that they steadfastly refused to obey the universal order 
to worship the emperor. They declared that their religion 
forbade their worshiping any but their own God. This 
roused the suspicions of the Roman officials. They con- 
cluded that people who would not obey the laws of the 
Empire must be conspiring against it. 

It was in order to put a stop to this that the Roman 
officials began those persecutions of which we hear so 
much in the early history of the Christian Church. The 
followers of Jesus were sometimes deprived of their 
houses and property, and in times of excitement they were 
dragged through the streets and stoned, crucified, burned, 
or thrown into the arena of the amphitheater to be torn 
to pieces by wild beasts. 

Growth of Christianity. However, this persecution, 
terrible as it was, did not prevent people from joining 
the ranks of the Christians. Indeed, it seemed only to 
make their religion more popular, for the number of 
converts grew rapidly. People of all nations — Greeks, 
Italians, Gauls, and Britons — joined them, until the 
Christian Church spread throughout western Europe. At 
its head was the Pope. His title " Pope " came from the 
Latin ^^ox^ papa, meaning " father." He was the succes- 
sor of St. Peter, whom every one believed to have been 
the first head of the Christian Church of Rome. 



84 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Section 14. The Conversion of. England 

Gregory the Great. One day a monk — who later be- 
came one of the most famous of the popes, Gregory the 
Great — was passing the market place in Rome and 
chanced to notice some boys who were being sold there 
for slaves. They were so beautiful, with their fair faces 
and their fine, soft golden hair, that he asked who they 
were. When he was told that they were Angles, he re- 
plied, '' They seem more like angels ! " They came, in 
truth, from England and were descendants of the Ger- 
man tribe of Angles that had come over with Hengist 
and Horsa to the island of Britain in 449, almost a hun- 
dred and fifty years before the time of Pope Gregory. 

Gregory no sooner saw the fair-haired slaves from Eng- 
land than he began to plan how these heathen people 
might be converted to Christianity. Later, when he be- 
came pope, he took steps to carry out his ardent desire. 

Augustine and his mission. He chose for the work a 
company of forty monks, under the leadership of Augus- 
tine, one of his friends, who was the head of a Roman 
monastery. The monks were very reluctant at first to go 
on so toilsome and dangerous an expedition into a coun- 
try inhabited by barbarous, warlike men, of whose very 
language they were ignorant; but with Pope Gregory's 
encouragement they took heart, and, after the long 
journey across France and the English Channel, they 



THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 



85 




landed on the shores of England in the summer of 597, 
to begin their work of making Christians of the German 
tribes that had settled there. 

All these tribes were now coming to be called English, 
after the largest tribe, the Angles ; and the country, as we 
have seen, was called Angle land, or England. The people 
were still living in 
separate tribes, some- 
what as they had lived 
in Germany, each 
tribe under its chief. 
In the north was a 
kingdom called North- 
umbria, in the south 
was the kingdom of 
Kent, and scattered throughout the country were other 
kingdoms. There were seven of them altogether. 

It was from Ethelbert, king of Kent, that Augustine 
and his missionaries asked permission to enter England 
and preach Christianity. They had landed in Kent be- 
cause it was easiest for them to reach its shores from 
France, and they felt more sure of a favorable answer 
from Ethelbert because his wife, Bertha, was already a 
Christian. Queen Bertha, called Bertha Broadfoot, was 
a Frankish lady. Her father had permitted her to marry 
Ethelbert and go to live among a pagan people only 
on condition that she should be allowed to continue 



St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, built 
ON THE Site of Queen Bertha's Chapel 



86 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

worshiping in her own way and to take her own Christian 
priest with her from France. In Canterbury, where the 
king's palace was, she had a little chapel in which her 
priest held Christian services. 

When Augustine and his missionaries sent to ask 
Ethelbert if they might tell him about the new religion 
and preach it to his people, the king granted their re- 
quest on condition that w^hatever they had to say should 
be said out of doors, for fear that they were intending to 
practice some magic arts on him. Magic, according to 
heathen belief, was less likely to work harm outside the 
four walls of a house than within. So the king took his seat 
in the open air, and Augustine came toward him with his 
procession of monks, singing and carrying before them a 
picture of Christ and a silver cross glistening in the sun- 
shine. At the bidding of the king they sat down, and 
after offering prayers for him and his people, they told 
how beautiful was the Christian faith, since it made men's 
lives better on earth and opened the doors of heaven to 
them when they died. 

Ethelbert listened to them attentively, but said that 
he could not give up his own religion without bestowing 
more thought on the matter. He gave Augustine per- 
mission to live in Canterbury, however, and to carry on 
his missionary work in any way he chose. 

Thereafter Augustine and his band went about preach- 
ing Christianity, leading lives of fasting, poverty, and 



THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 8y 

prayer, and constantly working to win over the English 
from their pagan beliefs. They held services and baptized 
converts in Queen Bertha's little church of St. Martin's in 
Canterbury. In due time many men and women adopted 
the new religion. King Ethelbert himself became one of 
their converts and helped them in their work. 

This is the story of the bringing of the Christian re- 
ligion into England, as we learn it from a history of the 
Christian Church in England, written by an English monk 
named Bede. Much that Bede tells us is of especial value, 
because he lived only about seventy years after the com- 
ing of the Christian missionaries. This makes it quite 
possible for him to have learned about them at first- 
hand from men who had seen and known both King 
Ethelbert and Augustine. He tells us, too, that he al- 
ways took great care to ask information from none but 
those whom he believed trustworthy. 

Section 15. Bede and the Rule of St. Benedict 

The first monks. In early times men who had become 
converted to the Christian religion and who repented of 
their past sins and wished to escape further temptations, 
sometimes separated themselves from their families and 
friends and went away to live a life of solitude. Many 
of them took refuge in the desert, in Egypt, following the 
example of an early Christian hermit, St. Anthony, who 
left his home and people and retired to a solitary cave in 



S8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the wilderness. Sometimes these holy men would join 
with others who wished to live the same life and, build- 
ing their little cells or rooms near one another, would 
form a community called a monastery.^ 

The rule of St. Benedict. About five centuries after the 
founding of the Christian religion a young Italian named 
Benedict with a company of monks built a monastery 
which became so famous that hundreds of others were 
founded and conducted according to the rule that Bene- 
dict established. The monastery in which Bede lived was 
one built by Benedictine monks. Convents, too, were es- 
tablished, to which women might retire from the world. 

The rules that St. Benedict laid down for his monks 
were intended to teach the beauty of obedience and work. 
The monks were to elect one of their number to be their 
abbot, or superior, and to him they were to pay implicit 
obedience. 

St. Benedict said that working was as good as praying, 
so all the time that was not taken up in eating, sleeping, 
and prayer was divided into periods of labor and religious 
reading. As every monastery had land about it to be cul- 
tivated, it is easy to see that the farm and garden, as well 
as the kitchen, the bakery, the mill, and the making of 
their clothing and shoes, would give the monks plenty of 
chance to work with their hands. Moreover, as far as pos- 
sible, they were to make everything they used, so that 

1 " Monastery " comes from a Greek word meaning " alone." 



THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 



89 



they should not have to go outside the monastery gates. 
Each monk was supphed with a knife, a stylus, a writing 
tablet, a needle, and shoes and stockings. 

The rules also enjoined on them to speak little with 
one another, to care for the sick, to read aloud during 




Monastery at Vallombrosa, Italy 

meals, and to give lessons to all the boys and young men 
who lived in the monastery. As we shall see later, mon- 
asteries were for many centuries almost the only place 
where there was any studying or teaching. 

Bede. Bede, who wrote the story of St. Augustine, was 
placed in a monastery, in the north of England, when he 



90 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

was a little boy of seven, and all his life he lived as a 
monk, loved and honored by those about him. In his 
writings he tells how his days were spent in the quiet 
sheltered convent. He took part in services in chapel, 
singing, praying, and preaching; he took his turn at 




Cloisters of an Italian Monastery 

cooking and cleaning in the house ; tended the cows and 
sheep ; gave the calves and lambs their milk ; helped in 
the plowing and planting of garden and fields and in 
gathering the harvests; visited the poor and sick of the 
neighborhood ; and shared in the work of copying books. 
He studied constantly whatever books he could find — 
history, poetry, treatises on mathematics, and, above all, 
the Bible. Young monks came to his monastery, even 



THE EARLY CHRISTIANS 91 

from distant countries, to study with him, for he was 
counted the most learned man of the times, and his piety 
had gained him the title of The Venerable Bede. He 
wrote many books himself, all in Latin, the most impor- 
tant being the history of the Church, already mentioned. 
When he died he was engaged in translating the New 
Testament from Latin into English, for the use of the 
common people, who did not know Latin. 

Questions. 1. In what century did Pope Gregory live ? 2. In what 
year did the seventh century begin ? 3. Was the English of Bede's time 
like that which we speak to-day ? 

References. Robinson. Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 
49-51 (conversion of Kent); pp. 52-53 (conversion of Northumbria) ; 
p. 53 (conversion of Germany); p. 41 (a monk). Botsford. The Story 
of Rome as the Greeks and Romans Tell It, pp. 31 1-3 15 (thoughts of 
the pagan emperor, Marcus Aurelius). Old South Leaflets, Vol. V, p. 265 
(St. Augustine). Bates and Coman. English History Told by English 
Poets, p. 17 (Glad Tidings). 



CHAPTER VII 

ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES 

England and the coming of the Danes. Alfred becomes king of England. 

His boyhood. His love of learning. His care for his people. The state of 

the country at the time of his death 

Section i6. Alfred and the Coming of the Danes 
The Danes invade England. During the centuries that 
followed the conversion of the English to Christianity 
many churches and monasteries were built in England. 
Some of the monks were learned men and established 
schools in their monasteries where they taught pupils to 
read Latin and to copy religious books. But most of the 
people were interested in fighting rather than in reading, 
for a never-ending warfare was going on among the various 
English kingdoms, each one struggling for the mastery of 
the country. While they were still fighting among them- 
selves a dreadful enemy, called the Danes, or Northmen, 
appeared off the English coast in the year 787, sailing 
across the sea from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 

They attacked all the villages that were near enough 
to the sea to permit them to make an easy escape to their 
boats. The English fought with them again and again, 

but the Northmen generally succeeded in getting back 

92 



ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES 93 

to their ships in safety, loaded with gold and silver from 
the churches and monasteries. Year after year they 
came, killing men, women, and children, and burning 
buildings and villages, until at last it was plain that they 
would take entire possession of the country unless they 
could be checked. 

King Alfred. King after king tried his hand at getting 
rid of the Danes, but none was successful until King 
Alfred came to the English throne (in the year 871). 
The young king proved himself so brave and able a 
commander that before eight years had passed he had 
brought about a treaty of peace with the Danes. By this 
treaty a considerable portion of the eastern part of Eng- 
land was turned over to them on condition that they 
stop fighting and plundering and leave all the rest of 
the island undisturbed. 

King Alfred thus began his reign with a great service 
to his country, and all his life he continued to devote 
himself to the good of his subjects. His one aim, as he 
said, was " to leave to the men that came after a remem- 
brance of him in good works." We are fortunate enough 
to know a good deal about him, as we have the story 
of his life written by one who lived at the same time, and 
who had the greatest admiration and affection for him. 

This was an English bishop named Asser, who begins 
his account with stories of the king's boyhood. He 
describes him as a charming child, more graceful and 



94 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

attractive than his brothers, and beloved above them all 
by every one who knew him. One day their mother 
showed the children a beautifully illuminated little book 
of poems, which she said she would give to the one who 
should first learn to recite a poem to her; and Alfred, 
although he was the youngest, was the first to ask if he 
might try for the prize. Before many days he came to 
his mother and said over to her one of the poems that he 
had learned perfectly. So the little book was given to him. 

Besides these verses he learned with great ease many 
other poems, psalms, and prayers, from hearing them 
recited to him. If he had had good teachers when he 
was young, he would have been even a more learned 
man than he was, but there seems to have been no 
one at his father's court who could teach him. 

Nevertheless he had a great love of learning and was 
eager that not only he himself but all his subjects should 
be taught. When he became king he had a school in his 
palace, where his ow^n children, as well as those of the 
bishops and noblemen of his court, were instructed in 
the few studies that were then taught. All the books 
were in Latin, so the children were taught to read Latin 
and to recite Latin psalms and other portions of the 
Bible, as well as English poems. 

When the king could not find enough teachers in 
England for his school, he sent over to France for any 
learned men who might be willing to come to his court 



ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES 



95 



and teach ; and he too whenever he had the leisure to 
listen to them, either day or night, had them read to him, 
until he became well acquainted with many books. He 
did not learn to read Latin himself until he was almost 




Old Saxon Church — the only Complete One surviving 



forty. Then, as he desired so ardently that his subjects 
should be able to read, he himself set about translating 
Latin books into English for the benefit of those of his 
people who knew no Latin. Whenever, in making his 
translations, he came across anything he thought they 



96 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

would be too ignorant to understand, he took time to 
write down an explanation of it for them. 

Besides his translations, Alfred had a history of the 
English people written, from the time when they first came 
over to Britain until his own reign. This book, which is 
called the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," was the first impor- 
tant one to be written in English. It was continued by 
other writers for many years after Alfred's death. Even 
now, when historians wish to write about the English 
people as they were in those early times, they must de- 
pend upon this old chronicle that King Alfred began a 
thousand years ago. 

He was always trying to improve the condition of 
his people. There was endless fighting to be done to 
keep the Danes from devastating the country, for they 
were constantly breaking the treaty he had made with 
them. Yet he organized his army in such a way that 
only half of the men would have to be away from home 
at a time. While one half were away on duty the others 
could stay at home and attend to their flocks and their 
farming. 

Alfred was a special friend to the poor of his realm. 
The rich men could protect themselves, but the poor, he 
said, " have no friend but their king." In deciding the 
many disputes that were brought before him he always 
favored the poor and weak as far as possible ; and all 
men thought him a fair and just judge. 



ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES 97 

One of the stories told of him is how he used candles 
to measure the time by, and how he invented a lantern. 
There were no clocks in those remote times, and men 
told the time by the sun. But this did not satisfy King 
Alfred, since it gave him no means of telling the time at 
night or in storn^y weather. So he experimented until 
he found out how long a candle must be to burn for four 
hours, and then had them made of this length, so that six of 
them would last for exactly twenty-four hours. Moreover, 
he marked off spaces on them so that he could divide his 
time into even smaller periods. But then he found that 
the wind that came through the doors and the cracks in 
the walls of the house, or under his tent when he was 
away fighting the Danes, blew out the lights or made 
the candles gutter and burn unevenly. He saw that he 
would have to find some way of protecting them against 
a draft of air. After much thought he had some white 
oxhorn cut into sheets so thin that they were transparent, 
and these he set on a wooden frame around the candles. 
This kept the candle clock burning brightly and steadily, 
and proved also to be a very good sort of lantern. 

Alfred gave much of his time to prayers and medita- 
tion. He felt indeed that he ought to devote half of each 
day to the service of the Church. He also gave a great 
part of his wealth to the building and support of churches 
and monasteries, so many of which had been destroyed 
by the Danes. 



98 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

In the year 900 King Alfred died. In 1900, a thousand 
years later, the English people had meetings and pageants 
in his honor, for they are glad to recall and to pay tribute 
to the greatest of their early rulers. 

Questions. 1. Did children go to school in the time of Alfred the Great 
and where ? 2. What great men of our times do we hold in honor ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 58-63 (ex- 
tracts from the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" in regard to the attack of the 
Danes); pp. 63-69 (Alfred the Great); pp. 69-72 (dialogue between 
teacher and pupils in Anglo-Saxon times) ; pp. 80-82 (Alfred's '' dooms " 
or laws). Old South Leaflets, Vol. V, p. 245 (King Alfred's account of 
Europe). Bates and Coman. English History Told by English Poets, 
p. 18 (Alfred and his Descendants). 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE VIKINGS 

The misery that the Vikings, or Northmen, caused the French in the ninth 
century. Why we are interested in the Northmen. The beauty and skillful 
workmanship of their relics. The Norse sag^as and what they tell us of the 
religion, pleasures, and business of the Vikings. Iceland. How the Danish 
Northmen troubled England. Canute, the Dane, becomes king of England 

Section 17. What we know of the VikinCxS 

Description of the Vikings. The invaders who made the 
EngHsh so much trouble in Alfred's time were distant 
kinsmen of the English — a branch of the same German 
people. They lived in the countries lying beyond the 
North Sea (Denmark, Norw^ay, and Sweden) and were 
given various names by the people whose lands they in- 
vaded — Northmen, Norsemen, Normans, and Danes. 
Their own name for themselves was Vikings, a word that 
had nothing to do with kings, as one might think at 
first sight, but came perhaps from the Norse w^ord vik 
meaning a " bay " or " inlet," because the ships on which 
they spent so much of their lives w^re anchored in the 
bays and inlets. 

The Vikings were tall, stalwart men, with long yellow 
hair and bright blue eyes — men who loved to ride the 
sea and battle with its stormy waves; and in some wild 

99 



lOO INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

tempest of wind and rain, when their victims were least 
expecting them, to swoop down in their long boats upon 
a helpless coast village, burn the homes, slay the men, 
women, and children of the little town, and carry off to 
their ships all the sheep and cattle and the store of grain 
and provisions. 

This was the sort of trouble they brought upon the 
people of France and England almost every year during 
the ninth and tenth centuries. They grew bolder with 
every attack, and finally no longer confined themselves 
to the towns on the coast but went far inland, where 
they pillaged villages and towns and carried away rich 
treasures from churches and monasteries. Often they 
settled down for the season on an island near the coast, 
setting out from it for their raids and escaping back to 
it with their load of plunder, leaving behind them 
burning villages and monasteries, ruined crops and 
desolate people. They seemed only a terrible enemy, 
merciless, unconquerable, and incapable of good. 

Yet, notwithstanding this gloomy picture of them, 
we are bound to feel that there must have been some- 
thing fine in men so daring and of such an unconquerable 
spirit. And we are the more interested to learn what 
else can be found out about them, because many of us 
have their blood in our veins and are descended from 
these very Vikings who made so much trouble for 
France and England' before they finally settled down in 



THE VIKINGS loi 

those countries and in time became a part of the French 
and EngHsh nations. 

We therefore have good reason for some further curi- 
osity about the Vikings. How did they occupy them- 
selves at home, when they were resting from their raiding 
expeditions to the south ? What were their arts, their 
customs, and 
their ways of 
Hving ? We 
may learn 
a good deal 
about all this 
from their rel- 
ics and their __ 

',' Viking Horse Collar 

writmgs. 

Relics of the Vikings. Many relics of the Vikings 

have been found in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and 

are still being unearthed every year, after having lain 

hidden in the ground for all these centuries. It was from 

their relics, you will remember, that we learned about the 

earliest inhabitants of Britain and other countries, and 

about the early Britons themselves, and still later about 

the life of the Romans in England. The relics of Norse 

workmanship show that the Northmen, or Vikings, were 

not nearly so highly civilized as the Romans, yet it is 

very clear that they were far superior to the barbarous 

early Britons. 




I02 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



If we could walk through the museum in Copenhagen, 
the capital of Denmark, or visit the collections in some 
of the cities of Norway and Sweden, we should 
see case after case containing beautiful and 
interesting things, all made by the early North- 
men and showing their skill in the working 
of gold and silver, iron, bronze, glass, and 
other materials. There are vessels of gold 
and silver engraved with exquisite designs 
and bronze bowls ornamented with fine trac- 
ery in red or blue enamel; there are heavy 
twisted rings of gold, gold hairpins set with 
garnets, and bracelets, pendants, and neck 
rings, all of heavy gold with elegant decora- 
tion ; there are iron swords with delicate de- 
signs in gold ; lovely glass vases, colored blue 
or green and sometimes ornamented with 
paintings; finely wrought gilt horse collars 
and golden spurs ; and even pieces of cloth 
woven in charming patterns with gold and 
silver thread. 

Norse runes. On many Norse relics letters 
are engraved or traced. These letters the 
Vikings called runes, their name for the 
\ / letters of their alphabet. Only the priests 

,, ' knew their meanins^. To the rest of the 

Viking & 

Sword people, who were uneducated, they seemed 



THE VIKINGS 



103 



full of mystery and were supposed to have a magic power. 
For this reason they were carved for good luck on rings 
and swords and drinking cups, on the lintels of doors, 
and, indeed, wherever a place could be found for them 
— sometimes even on great rocks or monumental stones. 

The Norse sagas. The 
writings of the North- 
men are in the form of 
stories, called in the Norse 
language sagas. These 
sagas, or tales, were re- 
peated over and over dur- 
ing the long northern 
winter nights, and handed 
down from father to son 
for many generations be- 
fore they were ever put 
into writing. The oldest 
of them tell the tales of 
the ancient Viking heroes, 
who, like the heroes of the Greeks, were thought of as 
half divine, half human. Others tell of the lives of the 
great Viking kings of early days. Lastly, many sagas are 
tales of later Norse chiefs, of their families, their deeds, 
and their customs — tales that were first told by men who 
lived at the same time as the people they tell of. These 
are as reliable and trustworthy a source of information as 




A Runic Stone 



I04 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

any history of the time could be. When we read them it 
seems as if we ourselves were living in the country of the 
Vikings, as if we were well acquainted with the persons 
who are told about, and were looking on with our own 
eyes at their weddings and banquets, their games and their 
battles, and all the business and pleasure of their lives. 

The poetic language in which their sagas were written 
makes clear that the Northmen were not untouched by 
the beauty about them, that they could feel and express 
the w^ild and romantic splendor of their native land — of 
its snowy mountains and green valleys, its dark pine 
forests and deep blue fiords, its bright rushing brooks and 
gleaming mountain pools, and, most of all, of the tossing 
surf and the gray stormy billows of their northern ocean. 

We learn too from the Norse sagas, as well as from 
the English and French chronicles, that the Northmen 
were men of marvelous courage and daring. No danger 
daunted them ; fear they knew not the meaning of ; 
nothing in heaven or earth had terrors for them. Along 
with this daring courage went the virtues of warm hos- 
pitality and loyalty to friends, joined, however, with a 
bitter hostility to foes. Among the poems that they 
have left is a little verse vvliich says : 

Best do they live 
Who are liberal and valiant 
And to trouble them 
Rarely comes grief. 




A Fiord in Norway 



105 



io6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY \ 

In religion the Northmen were pagans and beheved in \ 
many gods. The greatest of these was Odin, the father 
of all. Next to him in power were Freya, the goddess j 
of love and beauty ; Baldur, the fairest, purest, and best ^ 
beloved of the gods ; and Thor, the mightiest and most 
dreaded. It was Thor whose chariot rolling through the \ 
heavens caused the thunder, and who struck terror into | 
evildoers with his magic weapon, a mighty hammer, that 
returned to his hand after it had struck down its victim. 

About these gods and the others that the Northmen ' 
worshiped were woven many myths and stories, and to : 
Odin's palace, Valhalla, it was believed that all Viking ' 
heroes who were fortunate enough to die on the field of ; 
battle were taken, borne thither on winged horses by the 
heroic warrior maids, called Valkyrie. ■ 

The skald. Skald was the name the Northmen gave to j 
their poets and story-tellers. As we have said, the North- \ 
men loved hospitality and delighted above all things to 
assemble in one of their great halls for a banquet with 
their friends and kinsmen, who came together to spend ! 
long hours in feasting and song. As the huge gilded horn \ 
of mead or ale was passed up and down the long table, 
and filled, and filled again, to satisfy the revelers, they , 
would call on some skald present to sing them a song or ■ 
tell over some saga. A feast was never complete unless one 
of them was present to entertain the guests. Sometimes ; 
he would tell a saga of the gods — of how Thor fought 



THE VIKINGS 107 

the great serpent or of Odin's battle with the wolf ; some- 
times he would thrill the feasters with the wonderful deeds 
of their dead heroes or living chiefs ; and again it would 
be the tale of a Viking voyage, or of some lately fought 
battle in which, it might be, the very men about the 
table had taken part. 

At the banquets the skalds were seated next the host 
and held in highest honor. One of the sagas tells how a 
skald came one day to a king's palace and asked if he 
might sing to the king. And when he had finished his 
song, " the king was so delighted that he thanked him 
for it, and asked his treasurer with what it should be re- 
warded. The treasurer answered, ' With what would you 
wish to reward it, lord ? ' The king said, ' How will it be 
rewarded if I give him two ships ? ' The treasurer 
replied : * That is too much, lord. Other kings give 
costly gifts like good swords or good gold rings as rewards 
for a song.' So the king gave him his own clothes of 
new scarlet, a lace-trimmed kirtle, a cloak with the finest 
fur on it, and a gold ring that weighed a mark. And 
then the skald thanked him and stayed a short while 
longer and then went on his way." 

Section 18. Voyages of the Vikings 

Ships of the Northmen. It is not to be wondered at that 
the king's treasurer protested against a reward of two 
ships in return for a song, since of all the Northmen's 



io8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



possessions the most precious were their ships. It was 
the aim of every Viking to own a swift, stout ship, well 
fitted out with oars and sails, for it was only by means of 
his ship that he could make his voyages over sea to 
foreign lands and grow rich on the plunder that he 

brought home. Some of 
the kings and great chiefs 
possessed large fleets. One 
of them had eight hundred 
and forty ships, and the 
fleet of the great king 
Canute, of whom we shall 
hear more later on, num- 
bered twelve hundred. 

A splendid sight they 
must have been, these long 
ships sweeping over the 
waves, with their red and 
white or blue and green 
striped sails and their gilded dragons' heads glittering 
at the prows. The sails were often beautifully embroid- 
ered. Sometimes they were lined with fur. The ship 
itself was painted dark blue, or red and gold, or what- 
ever color best pleased its owner. And he gave it some 
poetic name. Some of their names were Deer of the 
Surf, Lion of the Waves, Sea Kings Deer, and Horse 
of the Honie of Ice, 




A Viking Ship 



THE VIKINGS 109 

The sea howls, and the wave 

Dashes the bright foam against the ship's wood, 

While the dragon prow 

Yawns with its gilded mouth, 

is a verse from an old Norse poem. 

It was in these ships that the daring Vikings voyaged 
to lands that must have seemed very far away from home 
when there were no maps, or charts, or even compasses 
to direct them over the trackless seas, and when the stars 
were their only guides. It is amazing to what distances 
their daring and their love of adventure and booty led 
them. We know that they went as far south as the Med- 
iterranean Sea, as far east as the Black Sea, and almost 
five hundred years before Columbus was born they made 
their way over to America. 

The voyage to America. This voyage came about as fol- 
lows : Toward the beginning of the tenth century some 
Northmen became dissatisfied with the chiefs of their 
own country and sailed away, with their families and pos- 
sessions, to an island west of Norway, now called Iceland. 
Here they made a flourishing settlement and here they 
first began to write down the sagas. One of these tells 
how a Northman from Iceland, called Eric the Red, 
settled Greenland, and how his son, Leif the Lucky, sailed 
south one summer from Greenland with one ship and a 
company of thirty-five comrades ;. how he came to a 
warmer land than he ever had known before; and how 



no INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



he landed and encamped there, getting furs from the 
natives. This country he called Wineland, because one 
of his followers, returning from an expedition farther in- 
land, brought back some wild cranberries from which 

a sort of wine could 
be made. We guess 
that this country that 
Leif the Lucky came 
to was what is now 
Labrador, on our own 
American continent, 
and that the little men 
he tells of were Eski- 
mos, but we cannot 
be sure, for the saga 
tells little more about 
the visits of the North- 
men to our shores, and 
they did not establish 
any permanent settle- 
ments here. 

The Vikings in England. The country that the Vikings 
most loved to make raids upon and to plunder was 
England. In the last chapter we saw how King Alfred 
made a compact with them, which gave them a part of 
England to settle in on condition that they leave the 
rest of it undisturbed. This agreement they observed for 




A Norwegian Waterfall 



THE VIKINGS iii 

only a few years, for no Viking thought it wrong to break 
his pledge to an enemy. 

The plundering, devastation, and fighting went on for 
a hundred years after Alfred's death. Sometimes the 
English were victorious, but more often the Danes, or 
Vikings, were the conquerors, until at last, in 1016, the 
latter succeeded in getting the mastery in England under 
the leadership of the great Danish king, Canute, of whose 
vast fleet of ships we have already spoken. 

King Canute. Canute was like all the other Viking 
chiefs ; if he wanted a thing very much, he stopped at 
nothing in trying to get it. He had desired exceedingly 
to be king of England, but in attaining his desire he 
committed many murderous deeds. The English nobles 
that he thought might make trouble for him he had put 
to death, or else sent over the sea to countries so far 
away that they could not interfere with his plans. When 
once he had firmly seated himself on the throne, however, 
he underwent a great change, and from having been a 
cruel and unfeeling enemy he became a wise, just, and 
kind ruler, much loved by his English as well as by his 
Danish subjects. 

In the sagas he is described as a "very tall and strong 
man, and very handsome, too, except that his nose was 
too thin and prominent, and somewhat crooked besides. 
His complexion was fair, and his hair was long and fair, 
while his eyes were finer and keener than any other man's 



112 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

of his day." He was generous, too, and a great and vali- 
ant warrior, as well as very lucky in all his undertakings, 
and he was so mild that his chiefs never did anything 
against him that he did not forgive at once, if they came 
to him and promised to be obedient to him once more. 

He proved himself, indeed, in every way a good ruler 
during the nineteen years that he lived to reign over 
England. Under his rule peace was established and law 
and order restored. He adopted Christianity and even 
made a pious pilgrimage to Rome. 

King Canute's only desire, once he had made himself 
ruler of England, seems to have been to add to the hap- 
piness and prosperity of his subjects and to win their love, 
and in this he was so successful that the grief at his 
death was universal. 

Questions, l. What did the French and English think of the North- 
men ? 2. How do we learn about them ? 3. How is it that many Ameri- 
cans are probably descended from the Vikings ? 4. Where is Iceland ? 
5. What things were admirable in the character of the Vikings ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 83-86 
(Danish attacks on England); pp. 87-89 (Canute's letter). Old South 
Leaflets, Vol. II, No. 31 (voyage of the Vikings to Vinland). H. W. 
Marie. Norse Stories. Hall. Viking Tales. Bates and Coman. 
English History Told by English Poets, p. 19 (Canute the Dane) ; p. 21 
(King Canute). 



CHAPTER IX 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 

William of Normandy, a descendant of the Vikings. His claim to the throne 
of England. His invasion of England and the battle of Hastings, How he 
made himself master of all England, His castles. The Doomsday Book. The 
New Forest. Building of churches throughout England. Character of William 
the Conqueror. How England benefited by the coming of the Normans. The 
system of holding land, called feudalism 

Section 19. William of Normandy and Harold 
OF England 

The Northmen in France. A hundred years before Canute 
became king of England, another Viking leader, named 
Rolf (or Rollo), had settled down with his followers in 
the northwestern part of France. This region has ever 
since been called after them, Normandy — the land of the 
Northmen or Normans. In the middle of the eleventh 
century, then, which we have now reached in our story, 
we find Northmen settled on both sides of the English 
Channel. We shall see next how a descendant of Rolf, 
William of Normandy, united under his rule the Nor- 
mans of France and the Danish Northmen of England. 

William of Normandy was a true son of the Vikings, 
a man of gigantic stature and mighty frame, with eyes 
so fierce and countenance so stern that he struck terror 

113 



114 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

to all who had to do with him. Even in his childish 
days he displayed remarkable daring and energy, for he 
became Duke of Normandy at seven, and when he was 
only thirteen he led his men in a successful attack on a 
rebellious noble's castle. 

As he grew older and assumed entire control of the 
dukedom that he had inherited, he proved a powerful and 
tireless ruler. One by one he subdued all the neighbor- 
ing lords who disputed his rights, until finally he was 
almost as powerful as the king of France himself. But 
even this was not enough to satisfy his ambition. So he 
turned his eyes across the Channel to England. 

Edward the Confessor and Harold. England was then 
ruled by an English king, Edward the Confessor, a de- 
scendant of Alfred the Great. He had long been on the 
throne, and his reign was now drawing to a close. As he had 
no children the question was who should be his successor. 

There were two ways of settling this question. In Eng- 
land there was a great earl, Harold, who was the king's 
chief adviser, and it seemed likely that Edw^ard would 
choose him as his successor to the throne. 

Over in France, however, there was William of Nor- 
mandy, who claimed to be the rightful successor to the 
throne on several grounds. In the first place he declared 
that Edward had once promised him that he should be 
the next king. He also claimed that once when Earl 
Harold had been shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 



115 



and so had come into his power, he had sworn a solemn 
oath to aid WilHam to secure the EngHsh throne when 
the time came. Both these things had made the Nor- 
man duke count upon becoming king of England upon 
Edward's death. 

This was the way matters stood when, in 1066, Edward 
the Confessor's life approached its end. Harold was close 
at hand, and the dying king, who had doubtless forgotten 
his promise to William, if indeed he had ever made it, 
recommended to his assembled lords that they choose 
Harold for their ruler. He was therefore crowned im- 
mediately after the king's death, and lost no time in 
assuming control of English affairs. 

William's invasion and conquest of England. When the 
news of the coronation reached William he fell into so 
violent a rage over what he considered an act of treachery 
on the part of Harold, that, as the chronicler wrote, " to 
no man spake he, and none dared speak to him." He 
began straightway to collect an army and a fleet with 
which to invade England and enforce his claim to the 
English throne, assembling his archers and his armed 
knights and making preparations for building the ships 
in which to transport his forces across the Channel. 

All these preparations occupied so many months that 
Harold, who had heard of his coming and had for a long 
while maintained an army on the southern coast to await 
his attack, was at last obliged to let most of his soldiers 



Ii6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

go home to work on their farms. So it happened that 
when WilHam at last arrived off the coast of England 
one September morning in the year 1066, there was no 
one to oppose him. He landed his army at Pevensey 
and at once began ravaging all the country round about. 
By the time Harold had gathered his forces again and 
was able to meet the duke in battle, the Normans had 
gone as far inland as the town of Hastings and had been 
laying waste the land for more than two weeks. 

On a low hill not far from Hastings William and 
Harold, with their armies, at last came together. Long 
and fierce was the battle that was waged. From sunrise 
to sunset shields and armor resounded with the shock 
of lances and flying arrows. Sometimes the Norman 
knights were victorious, sometimes the battle-axes of the 
English soldiers drove them back from the hill on which 
Harold had taken his stand. But at last, toward the end 
of the day, when William, unhorsed and unhelmeted, was 
urging on his soldiers to a final attack on the sturdy 
English, a shaft from a storm of arrows pierced Harold 
through the eye and he fell dead before the advancing 
hosts of the Normans. His men retreated in dismay at 
the loss of their leader, and William and his invading 
army were left masters of the field. 

Although William was victorious in the battle of 
Hastings, he was not yet master of all England. It 
was necessary that he should be formally elected by 




William the Conqueror granting the Town 
Citizens of London 

(From the painting by Lucas) 
117 



Charter to the 



nS INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the English assembly of nobles and bishops, called the 
Witenagemot, before he could rightfully assume the crown. 

William never wasted a moment in setting about 
doing whatever seemed necessary to insure success. Im- 
mediately after his victory, therefore, he started to march 
on London, terrifying the towns on the way into sub- 
mission ; and one of them he set on fire to teach the 
English that he intended his conquest to be complete. 
By the time he reached London the Witenagemot was so 
thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of withstanding 
him that they met him outside the city, offered him the 
crown, and invited him to enter the town for his coro- 
nation. So he was legally crowned king of England in 
Westminster Abbey, on Christmas Day, in the year 1066. 

In the city hall of Bayeux, a very old town in Nor- 
mandy, is a famous piece of tapestry, called the Bayeux 
tapestry. It is a strip of coarse linen about half a yard 
wide and some seventy yards long. On it are embroid- 
ered in woolen thread of different colors — blue, yellow, 
red, and green — seventy-two scenes, picturing events 
in the Norman Conquest. Tradition says that Queen 
Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, assisted by 
the ladies of her court, designed and worked these 
pictures. Whether or not this is true, it is certain that 
the tapestry was made shortly after the time that the 
scenes it portrays were enacted on English and Norman 
soil. It shows us Harold taking his oath to William, 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 119 

Edward the Confessor bestowing the crown on Harold, 
the embarking of WilHam's army for England, and many 
scenes from the battle of Hastings, depicting the Norman 
horsemen with their coats of mail, the English with their 
shields and battle-axes, a group of archers fighting on 
foot, and finally Harold attempting to pull at the arrow 
that shot him through the eye. 



Section 20. Government of William the Conqueror 

Division of land. After his conquest the next thing for 
William to do was to make it impossible for his subjects 
to defy him. In order to accomplish this he made a 
number of changes in customs and government. 

In the first place he took over the lands and estates of 
Englishmen and gave them to his Norman friends and 
followers. There was no nobleman, no common soldier in 
his whole army, no attendant at court, however humble 
his duties, who did not receive some reward of this sort. 
By means of this division of property he brought it 
about that in every part of England there were Norman 
landowners who were constantly on guard against any 
uprising of the English against William, for they knew 
w^ell that if the Conqueror lost his throne, they too 
would lose their possessions. 

When these landowners received their estates from 
the king they took an oath of eternal loyalty to him, 



I20 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

pledging themselves to take up arms for him at his 
call. And, in turn, every tenant of these landowners 
had to make the same oath both to the king himself 
and to his own landlord as well. In this way William 
made the whole people into an army that he could 
summon around his standard whenever he desired. 




A Norman Church in Iffley, England 

Norman castles. In the second place, as another pre- 
caution against a revolt of the English, William kept all 
the important towns in England in subjection to him 
by building castles in them which he garrisoned with 
Norman soldiers under the command of a Norman earl. 
Some of these old stone castles, or parts of them, are 
still standing. The strongest part of the castle was the 



TLongitude West 0"* Longitude Kast 2'from Greenwich 4 




Dominions of William the Conqueror 



122 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

thick-walled tower, called the keep. The lord's family 
lived in this part, in rooms that we should think damp 
and gloomy enough to-day, with cold stone floors, and 
windows that were mere slits in the walls. Tapestry 
curtains served to keep off some of the chill, however, 
and a huge fireplace in the hall made at least one warm 
spot. Below the main floor were dungeons where the 
earl could safely put away any one whom he feared or 
disliked. Around the tow^er was a courtyard, inclosed 
by a thick wall, on which soldiers kept constant watch. 
The castle was further protected by a moat, with a 
drawbridge across it closed by a portcullis, which was a 
heavy wooden grating that could be raised and lowered 
more quickly than the drawbridge itself. A portion of 
the great Tower of London belonged to one of these 
old castles. 

The Doomsday Book. William had a way of keeping an 
eye on the possessions of his subjects and of determining 
how much he could tax them, which found but little 
favor with the people. This was the Doomsday Book. 
The " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," which we have already 
spoken of, says : " The king sent his men over all Eng- 
land, into every shire, and caused them to ascertain how 
many hides of land ^ it contained, and what lands the 
king possessed therein, what cattle there were in the 
several counties, and how much revenue he ought to 

1 A " hide " of land was about one hundred and twenty acres. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 



123 



receive yearly from each. He also caused them to write 
down how much land belonged to the archbishops, the 
bishops, the abbots, and the earls, and what property 
every inhabitant of all England possessed in land or in 
cattle, and how much money this was worth. So very 
carefully did he cause the 
survey to be made, that there 
was not a single hide nor 
a rood of land, nor — it is 
shameful to relate that which 
he thought no shame to do 
— was there an ox or a pig 
passed by that was not set 
down in the accounts, and 
then all these writings were 
brought to him." The re- 
ports brought in made two 
thick volumes of manuscript, 
called the Doomsday Book. 
The so-called Doomsday Book meant a book of decisions 
that no man might question, from " Doomsday " (the Day 
of Judgment). The volumes are still in existence in 
the form in which they were written out by King 
William's clerks. 

Other changes made by William. As has just been said, 
the Doomsday Book was one of the measures that served 
to make William an unpopular sovereign. Another was 




The Doomsday Book 



124 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the introduction into England of the Norman custom of 
the curfew. This was a regulation requiring every one 
to put out or cover his fire at dusk. The time was an- 
nounced each evening by the ringing of the curfew bell. 
It was intended to prevent accident from fires, but the 
English looked upon it as another piece of tyranny on 
the part of the king. 

Still another act of the Conqueror roused the hatred of 
his subjects. The king was very fond of hunting, and in 




Scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry 

order to be able always to find plenty of deer and 
other wild animals for his sport he had all the villages and 
hamlets in a great tract of sixty thousand acres destroyed 
and the region given over to hunting. The old chron- 
icler says, "He made a large forest for the deer and en- 
acted laws that whoever killed a hare or a hind therein 
should be blinded. As he forbade killing a deer, so also 
the boars, and he loved the tall stags as if he were their 
father." The hunting ground thus made was called the 
New Forest.^ The people always felt that evil would 

1 Portions of the New Forest are still standing, covering a great stretch of 
land, over one hundred square miles, in the south of England. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 125 

come to the king for his wickedness in using the land in 
this way, and for his cruel punishment of those who dared 
to hunt in the woods. 

The Great Council. In spite of the new customs and 
laws that William introduced, he retained all the old cus- 
toms of government that he thought he could with safety. 
For example, three times a year regularly — at Easter, 
Whitsuntide, and Christmas — he assembled the old 
council of nobles and churchmen, the Witenagemot, now 
called the Great Council, and always appeared before it 
with his crown on his head, making it an occasion of 
much ceremony and display. This council was the fore- 
runner of the modern English parliament. 

Character of William. William the Conqueror, with all 
his tyranny, greed, and cruelty, had many good and great 
qualities. The writer of the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," 
after the king's death, said of him : " King William was 
a very wise and a great man, and more honored and 
more powerful than any of his predecessors. He was 
mild to those good men who loved God, but severe be- 
yond measure to those who withstood his will. In his 
days the great monastery at Canterbury was built, and 
many others also throughout England. 

" Amongst other things, the good order that William 
established is not to be forgotten. It was such that any 
man might travel over the kingdom with a bosom full of 
gold, unmolested ; and no man durst kill another, however 



126 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

great the injury he might have received from him. But 
truly there was much trouble in these times, and very 
great distress ; King William caused castles to be built 
and oppressed the poor. He was also of great sternness, 
and he took from his subjects many marks of gold and 
many hundred pounds of silver, and this, either with or 
without right and with little need. The rich complained 
and the poor murmured, but they must will all that the 
king willed if they would live, or would keep their lands, 
or would hold their possessions, or would be maintained 
in their rights. Alas ! that any man should so exalt him- 
self and carry himself in his pride over all ! " 

In 1087, while he was carrying on a war in France, 
this great king and conqueror received such an injury in 
an accident on horseback that he died before he could 
return to England, and was buried in an abbey that he 
himself had founded at Caen in Normandy. 

He had reigned twenty-one years, and during that time 
had done immense service by bringing the different ele- 
ments of the country — the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, 
and the Normans — under one strong central govern- 
ment. The barons, who were ever ready to oppress their 
tenants and defy the king, were kept in check, and 
throughout the greater part of his reign peace, law, and 
order were maintained by his strong hand. Even his 
enemies declared that " in war no knight under heaven 
was his peer." 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 



127 



Advantages of the Norman Conquest. In the years 
following the death of William, the descendants of 
those Normans who had come over with him from 
France became fully established on English soil and 




THIH 



Norman Stair, Canterbury 

made their influence felt in every direction. This was 
to the great advantage of England, for the Normans 
were a quick-witted, clever, energetic people, better 
trained, less self-indulgent, and more enterprising than 
the English, who were stirred up and enlivened by the 
newcomers. 



128 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

French, the language of the Normans, became the 
language used by the ruling class — the nobles, bishops, 
and government officials — as well as by the Norman 
townsmen. The use of English was confined altogether 
to the poorer classes, and was regarded as a stupid, vul- 
gar kind of speech. Church services continued to be 
conducted in Latin, and most of the few books written 
were in that language. 

Before the Conquest there had already begun in France 
a revival of the art of building, and the Normans, who 
loved to build and were very clever at it, brought this 
enthusiasm into England, to the great improvement of 
English architecture. The rounded arches in the illus- 
tration are in the style called Norman. Splendid abbeys 
and churches were erected. Some of England's most 
beautiful cathedrals arose at this time, while the be- 
ginnings of many more were made. Towns too grew 
in importance after the advent of the Normans, who 
introduced new trades and better methods of doing 
business. 

On the whole, the Norman Conquest was the best 
thing that could have happened to the English people, 
though they were very far from thinking so at the time 
that it occurred. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 129 

Section 21. Feudalism 

The king and his vassals. In those times of the Middle 
Ages ^ a king was counted the real owner of all the land 
over which he ruled. When he granted estates or large 
tracts of land to his favorites, or to deserving soldiers, or 
to bishops or abbots, as William the Conqueror so often 
did, he was not thought of as actually giving it to them. 
It was simply handed over to them and their heirs for as 
long as they were true to an oath of allegiance which they 
had to make to the king upon receiving the land. Kneel- 
ing before him, bareheaded and unarmed, they had to 
place their hands between his and swear, " I become 
liege man of yours for life and limb and death, God help 
me." After this oath the king, with a kiss, conferred the 
land. The ceremony was called " doing homage " ; the 
one who received the land became the " man " or " vassal " 
of the lord who granted it, and the land itself was called 
his " fief." If a man broke his oath he was supposed to 
forfeit his land. 

Very often these grants of land were so vast that there 
were many tenants and subtenants under the tenant in 
chief; that is, the lord or bishop to whom the king had 
first given the fief. Each one of these tenants and sub- 
tenants, upon receiving land from the lord of the estate, 

1 " Middle Ages " is the name commonly given to the thousand years from 
the break-up of the Roman Empire to about 1 500. 



I30 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 




Vassal doixg Homage to his Lord 

had to do him homage and become his vassal and swear 
to him an oath of allegiance, just as the lord himself had 
done when he received the land from the king. All those 
tenants who could perform militar}^ service on horseback 
were called knights. The others came on foot, armed 
with a lance or spear. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 131 

Warfare in feudal times. There was constant fighting 
going on between vassals and lords, for if a vassal began 
to feel himself strong enough to defeat his lord in war, 
he seldom hesitated to break his oath of homage and 
take up arms against his lord, using his own vassals to 
help him. Often, too, he changed his allegiance from 
one lord to another. The five centuries or so during 
which land was held under the feudal system — instead 
of being bought and sold or rented for money, as it is 
nowadays — were troubled times. The men who were 
strongest got what they wanted, and the weaker were 
trampled underfoot. 

The only place where men and women could be rea- 
sonably sure of peace and safety was within the walls of 
monasteries and convents, since whatever had to do with 
the Church was considered sacred even by the fiercest 
warrior, except in times of extraordinary disorder and 
lawlessness. 

Questions. 1. How many different peoples occupied England from 
the time of Julius Caesar to that of William the Conqueror ? 2. Has any 
ruler to-day as much power as William the Conqueror had ? 

References, Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 90-101 
(three accounts of the Norman Conquest) ; pp. 102-106 (immediate re- 
sults of the Conquest) ; pp. 132-136 (concerning feudal customs). Rob- 
inson. Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 224-229 (batde of 
Hastings; English and Normans); pp. 229-231 (rule of William the 
Conqueror); pp. 175-187 (feudalism). Bates and Com an. English 
History Told by English Poets, p. 26 (Harold). 



CHAPTER X 

THE CRUSADES AND RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 

How Pope Urban II roused the people of Europe to go on a crusade to 
the Holy Land. The First Crusade. The Third Crusade and Richard I of 
England. Return of Richard. Results of the Crusades. Knighthood 

Section 22. The First Crusade and the Capture 
OF Jerusalem by the Christians 

The Holy Land. Among the events of the Middle Ages 
there is none more romantic than the Crusades to the 
Holy Land. From the earliest times it was counted an 
act of piety for Christians to visit the sepulcher of their 
Saviour, in Jerusalem. They called Palestine the " Holy 
Land " because Jesus had lived and preached there. The 
city of Jerusalem and the country of Palestine had in 
time fallen into the hands of the followers of the great 
Arab prophet, Mohammed. The Mohammedans con- 
tinued for a long while, however, to allow the Christian 
pilgrims to make their visits of devotion to the Holy 
Land unmolested. But later Palestine had been con- 
quered by a fierce tribe of Turks, who treated those who 
came on pilgrimages with such cruelty that the whole 
Christian world was thrilled with horror by the accounts 

brought back by returning pilgrims. 

132 



THE CRUSADES 



T ') '> 



Pope Urban II starts the First Crusade. In 1095 ^ great 
meeting was held at Clermont, in France, to protest 
against these outrages. At this meeting Pope Urban II 
made an eloquent address, describing the sufferings and 
tortures of the Christians and the dangers that would 




Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem 

threaten the Holy Sepulcher itself if such things w^ere 
allowed to continue. He begged all his hearers to forget 
their little personal quarrels and their continual strife 
with one another, and to unite in one great effort to save 
the Holy City. " Set forth on this expedition with eager- 
ness," he cried, " that your sins may be forgiven you, and 
that ye may be assured of the reward of imperishable 
glory in the kingdom of heaven." 



134 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Carried away by his eloquence the vast multitude of 
his hearers cried aloud, with one great shout, " It is the 
will of God ! It is the will of God ! " These words the 
good Urban then declared should be the battle cry of 
those who set out on the enterprise. For a badge he 
bade them wear a cross, which should be placed on the 
breast as they journeyed toward the Holy Land, but, as 
they returned, should be worn on the back. From this 
badge of a cross the expeditions came to be called 
Crusades, and those who engaged in them. Crusaders. 

Peter the Hermit. After Pope Urban's speech at Cler- 
mont many went about stirring up people to join in the 
Crusades. Chief among them was a certain Frenchman 
called Peter the Hermit, who roused the utmost enthu- 
siasm on the part of his hearers, notwithstanding his in- 
significant size and humble aspect. Clad in the coarse 
garments of a monk, he rode up and down the country 
on his mule, crucifix in hand, exhorting all to take up 
the cause. 

By the following spring an enormous company had 
gathered together, ready to set out for the deliverance of 
the Holy City. It is said there were in all as many 
as 200,000 persons — throngs of poor workingmen with 
their wives and children, as well as a vast crowd of vaga- 
bonds and adventurers. Some of the multitude were 
going on account of their religious zeal, but many more 
for the sake of adventure, or to escape punishment for 



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THE CRUSADES 135 

their crimes, or to make homes in a land that they had 
been told was " flowing with milk and honey." 

This first great host of Crusaders started out in several 
divisions to travel the two thousand miles to Palestine. 
One of the companies was under the leadership of Peter 
the Hermit. The difficulties they encountered in cross- 
ing the mountains, plains, and rivers on their journey 
were tremendous. Thousands died on the way from 
hunger, disease, and exposure. Many thousands more 
were slaughtered by the Hungarians and Turks through 
whose country they went, and whose property suffered 
greatly from the lawless crowd. It was only a pitiful 
remnant of the original company that returned from the 
expedition, and even these few had not succeeded in 
reaching the Holy Land. 

The Crusaders and Constantinople. The next year a 
second division of the First Crusade, very different from 
the other, set out. It was a host of six armies made up 
of knights and yeomen,^ each under the leadership of a 
distinguished noble. The most famous of the leaders was 
the valiant Godfrey of Bouillon, and another was Duke 
Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror. 
With gleammg shields and lances, and flying banners on 
which shone out their motto Detis vult (" It is the will 
of God "), the six armies set forth, one after the other, 
for the Holy Land, having arranged to meet again in 

1 Yeomen were free men who tilled their own farms. 



136 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



Constantinople, the capital of what was the eastern part 
left of the old Roman Empire. 

On their arrival in that city they caused much dismay 
to the Eastern emperor, who had hard work to keep their 
disorderly bands from ill-treating his subjects and laying 
waste his lands. However, notwithstanding their rude 
and ungrateful behavior, he took pains to offer to the 
leaders of the host the utmost hospitality which his 

beautiful capital could 
afford. 

The wonders of Con- 
stantinople excited the 
greatest admiration on 
the part of the Cru- 
saders. The spacious 
avenues and squares 
of the city, set with 
beautiful buildings and monuments, made a striking 
contrast to the narrow streets and dark houses of their 
own towns, crowded together within encircling walls and 
topped by the frowning towers of gray fortresses. " Oh ! 
how great a city is Constantinople, " one of the Crusaders 
wrote home ; " and how noble and comely ! What won- 
drously built monasteries and palaces are therein ! What 
marvels everywhere in street and square ! " 

The Crusaders and Jerusalem. After a stay of some 
months the great armies of the " Franks," as the Eastern 




Tomb of a Crusader 



THE CRUSADES 137 

emperor and his people called the Crusaders, moved on 
across the Bosporus and through Asia Minor toward 
Palestine. This march was full of appalling hardships. 
They suffered fearfully from famine and pestilence, as 
well as from the attacks of the Mohammedan Turks. 
Their ranks became so thinned in all these ways, as well 
as by the desertion of those whose courage gave out, that 
by the time they reached the walls of Jerusalem, in 1099, 
two years after they had set out from France, there were 
but 20,000 men left out of the 150,000 that had originally 
made up the army. 

The taking of Jerusalem was no easy matter, even 
after they had reached it, for the walls were strong and 
high, and there was at first little food to support the 
knights during the siege. Relief came, however, in sup- 
plies brought by sea from Genoa in Italian merchant 
ships, and at last, after a siege of many weeks, the Holy 
City fell into the hands of the Crusaders. 

Their first act after the capture was to massacre, with 
outrageous barbarity, all the Turks — men, women, and 
children alike — that they found in the city. Then a 
Christian kingdom was established there and Godfrey of 
Bouillon chosen as ruler of it. Other nobles and knights 
laid claim to estates in the country round about, and 
for fifty years the Prankish kingdom in Palestine grew 
and flourished, holding its own against the power of 
the Turks. 



138 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Section 23. The Third Crusade and Richard I 
OF England 

Richard the Lion-Hearted. The First Crusade, as we 
have seen, had resulted in the capture of the Holy City 
and the establishment of a small Christian kingdom 
about it. A second Crusade was undertaken almost fifty 
years later, to recapture Edessa from the Saracens, as the 
Mohammedans were called, but this was a failure. Forty 
years later the great Saracen leader Saladin, as brave 
and heroic a warrior as any among his enemies the Cru- 
saders, recaptured the city of Jerusalem from the Chris- 
tians, and a third Crusade set forth from France to win 
it back. In this Crusade, the most famous one of all, we 
take a special interest, for one of its leaders was the 
valiant and distinguished King Richard of England, a 
descendant of William the Conqueror, so brave and 
daring that he was called Richard the Lion-Hearted. 

Richard was in France engaged in preparing for this 
Crusade when his father, Henry II, died, and he only took 
time to hurry over to England for a two months' stay, in 
order to be crowned king and to arrange for his absence in 
the Holy Land. During his stay he collected money from 
his English subjects by every means in his power, however 
unjust, to meet the expenses of the Crusade upon which 
his heart was set. It is said that he declared he would 
sell London itself, if he could get enough money for it. 



THE CRUSADES 139 

The government of England was to be cared for dur- 
ing his absence by two regents. His brother John, w^ho 
w^as the sort of person Hkely to make trouble, was recom- 
pensed for having no share in the government of the 
kingdom by the grant of an enormous tract of land. 
Then King Richard hastened back across the Channel, 
to continue his preparations for the Crusade. He had 
little love for England and was always glad to leave it, 
for he was a Frenchman at heart, and happiest when he 
was in the fair land of Erance. Indeed, during the ten 
years of his reign, he did not spend more than six 
months in his English kingdom. 

Richard the Lion-Hearted was not, however, the only 
one who had throw^n himself heart and soul into this 
Crusade. When the news of Saladin's capture of Jeru- 
salem reached Europe, every one was filled with grief 
and horror at the fall of the Holy City. The Pope is 
said to have died broken-hearted with sorrow over it, 
and all men alike — princes and bishops, priests and 
knights and common people — bent their thoughts and 
energies to raising money and men for a great army 
that should win back w^hat had been lost. There was 
no lack of volunteers, for countless numbers flocked 
to the standards of the distinguished leaders of the ex- 
pedition. To help meet the expenses a heavy tax, called 
the Saladin tax, was imposed on those who remained at 
home. It amounted to a tenth of each man's personal 



I40 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

property and income, and those who refused to pay it 
were to be excommunicated.^ 

Failure of the Third Crusade. The leaders of the Third 
Crusade were three famous sovereigns — Richard the 
Lion- Hearted, king of England ; Philip Augustus, king 
of France ; and Frederick Barbarossa (Frederick Red- 
beard), the renowned emperor of Germany. 

Frederick Barbarossa was drowned on his way to 
Palestine, but Richard and Philip with their armies 
succeeded in reaching the Holy Land and in taking 
an important Saracen town where they made many 
Saracens captives. 

This was but the beginning of their successes. Richard 
was said to have performed the most amazing deeds of 
valor upon every occasion, and to have proved himself a 
wonder of courage and daring. At the same time, how- 
ever, disputes were constantly arising between him and 
Philip, neither being willing to yield first place to the 
other. Finally Philip, in disgust, sailed away for France, 
leaving Richard to undertake alone the recapture of 
Jerusalem and the conquering of Saladin. 

But this the English king was not able to accomplish. 
He only succeeded in concluding a truce with the enemy 
for three years. 

1 An excommunicated person could not enter a church, or be married, or re- 
ceive a Christian burial, or hold property. Sometimes people were even forbid-- 
den to speak to him. 




King Richard landing in Palestine 



142 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Immediately upon the conclusion of this truce a num- 
ber of the Crusaders in Richard's army hastened to make 
the short journey from their encampment into Jerusalem, 
that they might visit all the spots held sacred by Chris- 
tians. But Richard himself was not among them. He 
never entered the Holy City or saw the Holy Sepulcher. 
Tradition says that he disdained to visit as a pilgrim the 
place that he had hoped to enter as a conqueror. 

His great Crusade was practically a failure. Yet before 
he sailed for home he declared to his valiant foe, Saladin, 
his intention of returning to renew the holy war as soon 
as. might be ; and Saladin made the courtly reply, " I 
would rather be conquered, if conquered I must be, by 
Richard the Lion- Hearted than by any other prince my 
eyes have ever seen." 

Long after the great English king and the great 
Saladin were dead, and Saracens and Christians fought 
no more, tales were still told among the Turks of the 
feats of Richard's mighty battle-ax, that weighed twenty 
pounds ; and when a Saracen's horse started with fright, 
his rider w^ould exclaim : " What dost thou fear ? Dost 
thou think King Richard is near ? " 

King Richard arrived in France only after a long and 
adventurous journey, and it was in France, as he was lay- 
ing siege to the castle of a rebellious vassal, that he met 
his death from an arrow. He had no children to succeed 
to the throne of England and to his French dukedoms, 



THE CRUSADES 143 

so they fell to his brother John, who had been treacher- 
ously plotting against him for many years, and who w^as 
a most unwelcome successor, in English eyes, to the 
lion-hearted hero of the Crusades. 

The results of the Crusades. There were at least four 
more great Crusades after the third. But in 1291, almost 
two hundred years after the capture of Jerusalem in 
the First Crusade, the Christians were finally conquered, 
broke up their settlements in the Holy Land, and left 
it to the Mohammedans. 

The two hundred years of intercourse that the Cru- 
sades brought about between western Europe and the 
eastern shores of the Mediterranean had wrought many 
changes. The English, French, and German knights 
who had gone in such vast numbers over land and sea to 
the far-away Eastern world had come in contact with 
two different civilizations that were far in advance of 
their own. In Constantinople they had seen the refine- 
ment and elegance of the Eastern Roman Empire, where 
Greek was still spoken and the old Greek books still 
read. In Syria and Palestine they had learned how 
far superior to themselves the Asiatic people were in 
learning, arts, and manufactures. All this served to 
open their minds to new ideas, while at the same time 
it turned the hatred and contempt with which they 
had at first regarded the Mohammedans into respect 
and admiration. 



144 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Trade, too, between the Eastern and Western worlds 
was greatly increased by the Crusades. Those Italian 
merchants who had brought supplies from Genoa and 
Venice and marketed them to the crusading armies in 
Palestine found many wares there to take back in their 
ships and sell at home, in Italy and France; for traders 
came from all parts of Syria, and even from as far as 
India, bringing pearls and ivory, silks and tapestries, 
wines, fruits, and spices, to sell to the merchants in the 
harbors of Palestine, and Italian traders found a ready 
sale for all these things in Europe. 

Section 24. Knightpiood 

Great changes also came about in the order of knights 
during the Crusades. When we first heard of knights, in 
connection with the feudal system, they were simply men 
who held land in fief from the king or from some overlord, 
and who were rich enough to live without working and 
to perform military service for the king on horseback. 
But during the Crusades there had grown up special 
forms and ceremonies in connection with knighthood. 

The training of a knight. A knight's training began 
when he was a little boy. Until he was eight or nine 
years old he lived at home in his father s castle, learning 
how to ride, how to shoot with bow and arrow, and how 
to follow the hunt with the castle retainers. After that 
he was sent away to the court of the king or some great 



THE CRUSADES 145 

noble, to be trained still further in knightly accomplish- 
ments. He was now called a " page," and his duties 
were to attend the lord and lady of the castle, to wait 
upon and serve them, to learn from the one courteous 
behavior for all occasions and from the other how to 
handle a lance and carry a shield, how to fence, and 
how to hunt with hawk and hound. He learned, too, 
to play chess, — the knight's favorite game, — to wait at 
table, to write verses and sing them, and to be modest 
and chivalrous in his bearing toward all. 

When he was fifteen or sixteen he received the title 
of " squire " and was instructed in whatever else was 
needful for a warrior to know — how to wear armor and 
wield all the knightly weapons, and to school himself 
to bear heat and cold and every discomfort without com- 
plaining. Now, too, he attended the lord in battle, carried 
his arms for him and cleaned them, groomed his horse, 
and stood ready to assist him in every way. 

At last, when he had reached manhood and by his 
courage and chivalry had proved himself worthy of the 
honor, knighthood was conferred upon him. After sol- 
emnly confessing his sins and keeping watch over his 
arms all night in the church, he laid his sword on the altar 
to signify a life of service to God. Then his sword belt 
and spurs were bound upon him, and the lord, striking 
him lightly on the shoulders with the flat of his sword, 
dubbed him a knight. 



146 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

A knight's armor. The armor that a knight wore when 
he went forth to do battle was a marvelously complicated 
affair. At the time of the First Crusade a knight was 
dressed from head to foot in a loosely fitting garment of 
small steel rings, linked together so closely that a weapon 




The Knight's Vigil 

(From the painting by Pettie) 

could scarcely penetrate it, and called the " coat of mail." 
He was further protected by a hood of mail, with a guard 
for the nose and brow. It was almost impossible to rec- 
ognize a knight in full armor. In order, therefore, that 
he might be known to his friends, each knight had his 
" arms " pictured on his shield or embroidered on a 



THE CRUSADES 147 

sleeveless or short-sleeved coat — sometimes called a 

tabard — which was worn over the armor. In later times 

the suits of armor were made entirely of plates of iron 

and worn with big iron helmets. 

The " arms " were some device, adopted by the knight 

for his own, for example, a fleur-de-lis, or a cross, or a 

lion. For weapons he had a wooden shield covered with 

leather; a sword, which w^as his especial joy and pride, 

to be guarded as his life ; and a lance 

made of ash wood. Sometimes, also, he 

used an ax in battle, and sometimes a 

bow and arrows. King Richard was 

famed for his skill in shooting with 

the bow. 

As we should expect, a knight and his ^^^^ ^^ ^^^' ^^ 
^ ^ . King Richard I 

horse were almost one, and the knight 
loved his steed like a dear friend. He protected him, too, 
with armor and was seldom separated from him. If he 
was not riding him into battle, he was hunting the deer 
or wild boar on his back. One crusader talks thus to his 
war horse : " Thou art weary, O my steed ; right willingly 
would I charge the Saracens again, but I see thou canst 
not help me. Yet I may not blame thee, for well hast 
thou served me all the day long. Couldst thou only bear 
me to France, none should saddle thee for twenty days, 
and thou shouldst feed on sifted barley and choicest hay, 
drinking from vessels of gold, and clad in fine silks." 




148 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Questions. 1. When did Mohammed live ? Do you know what the 
Koran is? 2. Why should the Pope have taken so much interest in 
the Crusades ? 3. How far is Constantinople from Jerusalem ? 4. Do the 
Turks still rule over the Holy Land ? 5. Can you find the derivation of 
the word " Crusade " ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 1 71-173 
(Richard the Lion-Hearted) ; pp. 173-176 (Richard and the Third 
Crusade). Robinson. Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 312- 
316 (Pope Urban's address at Clermont); pp. 316-321 (the First Cru- 
sade); pp. 321-329 (letters of the Crusaders); pp. 340-343 (the 
emperor's court at Constantinople). Bates and Coman. English His- 
tory Told by English Poets, p. 67 (Lament of Richard during his 
Imprisonment) ; p. 69 (King Richard in Sherwood Forest). Scott. 
The Talisman. 



CHAPTER XI 

KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 

John becomes king. His defiance of Pope Innocent III. The interdict. John's 

submission to the Pope. His persecution of the Jews. The barons and the 

Great Charter. Provisions of the Great Charter 

Section 25. John and Pope Innocent III 

Character of King John. King John, nicknamed John 
Lackland,^ the youngest son of Henry II and successor to 
his brother Richard the Lion- Hearted, was the worst mon- 
arch that ever sat upon the EngHsh throne. He was 
clever, but he was also mean, tyrannical, and cruel, with no 
sense of honor and no feelings of humanity. He had no 
religious sentiment himself and no regard for the religion 
of other men. He jeered at the services of the Church 
even when he was taking part in them. He had no inter- 
est in the welfare of his subjects, nor in anything but his 
own selfish desires, and there is no record of any good or 
kindly deed to his credit throughout his reign. 

King John had not been long on the throne before he 
had a quarrel with the ruling pope. Innocent III. 

Pope Innocent HI was one of the greatest and most 
powerful popes that ever occupied the papal throne. 

1 So called because his father had left him no lands in England or France. 

149 



150 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

He was deeply interested not only in the religious but 
also in the political affairs of every European nation of 
the time, and he had a wide influence with kings and 
emperors. Just at this time it was necessary to elect a 
new Archbishop of Canterbury in England, and Pope 
Innocent appointed Stephen Langton to the vacancy. 

Stephen Langton was duly elected — a man of excel- 
lent judgment, fine scholarship, and noble character. This, 
however, was not at all the sort of man that John de- 
sired. What he wanted was some one whose opinions 
agreed with his, or who would change them at his com- 
mand. Furthermore, he wished to assert his independence 
of the Pope. Therefore he announced that he would not 
accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. 
If the Pope insisted, he declared that there would be no 
further communication between England and Rome. 

Innocent III then dispatched a letter exhorting his 
" well-beloved son," as he called John, not to hold out 
against God and the Church, lest trouble come upon him. 
Many bishops, too, came to plead with the king not to 
bring the shame of an interdict^ on his people by his 
obstinacy. This opposition only threw John into a frenzy 
of rage. He swore that if his dominion were laid under 
an interdict by the Pope, he would have his revenge on 
every clergyman that he could find in England. 

1 An interdict cut off a whole country from the privileges of the Church, some- 
what as excommunication did an individual. 



KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 



151 



The interdict. John's conduct finally brought down on 
the country the dreaded punishment of the Pope's inter- 
dict. The whole of England was laid under it. Churches 
were closed and all church services prohibited. Except 
baptism of children and penance, no church sacrament 



fJ^*,5^^ 



?; 



:«/ 



" ,"* 



'^%l'%; 




-' '■■-^s^^g^J^M-^:^^ 















,/^- 






Old English Church 



was performed by the priests throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. The bodies of the dead were carried 
out of the cities and towns and buried in roadside ditches, 
without prayers or the attendance of priests. In an age 
such as that one, when religious devotions were a part 
of the everyday life of the people, an interdict fell like 
a terrible blow on every one, rich and poor, young and 
old, alike. 



152 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

However, the interdict was far from bringing John to 
terms. On the contrary, he set out, as he had threatened, to 
persecute every one connected with the Church. Bishops, 
priests, abbots, and monks were deprived of their prop- 
erty and left with Httle or nothing to Hve upon. From 
those barons who sympathized with the Church he de- 
manded hostages as surety of their good behavior, and 
these hostages were no less than their eldest sons. He 
imprisoned them, and in many cases when he doubted the 
loyalty of the father, he let the children starve to death 
or had them hanged. One noble lady boldly declared 
that she would never give up her son into the hands of 
so wicked a man, and for these words of defiance she and 
her husband and family had to flee to Ireland for safety. 

After the interdict had lasted for many months with no 
sign of yielding on the part of the king. Pope Innocent 
proceeded to excommunicate him. The few bishops who 
were still in the country were afraid to obey the Pope's 
orders to proclaim the excommunication to the people 
once a week. Nevertheless, the news spread all over 
England. Every one was talking of it, and every one who 
dared shunned the presence of the king and avoided 
speaking to him, as the decree enjoined them to do. 

At last the Pope, seeing that John had yielded neither 
to the interdict nor to the excommunication, took a final 
step. He threatened to take his throne away from him, 
and invited the French king, who was only too glad of 



KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 153 

the opportunity, to accept the crown and become ruler 
of England in case John should still resist the Church. 

King John's submission to the Pope. This brought John 
to his knees at last. When he learned that Philip 
Augustus was about to invade England with a large 
army, and realized that there were very few of his own 
barons whose loyalty he could depend upon, he at once 
granted not only everything that the Pope demanded 
of him, but a good deal besides. 

Langton was at once installed as archbishop. The 
bishops w^io had fled from England were recalled, and 
John agreed to restore all the Church property that he 
had confiscated. This was all that the Pope had asked of 
him. But the king, to make his penance complete, swore 
to become the Pope's vassal and to hand over to him, as 
overlord, his dominions of England and Ireland, for which 
he vowed that he would pay a certain tribute each year. 
So at last the decree of excommunication was withdrawn, 
and the interdict, which had lasted for more than six 
years, was removed from England. Church doors were 
opened again and church bells rang out once more for 
morning and evening service. 

John and his Jewish subjects. John still went on in his 
evil ways, however. Among other things, he treated the 
Jews in his kingdom in the most shocking and inhuman 
fashion in order to get possession of their money. Col- 
onies of Jews had been flourishing and growing rich in 



154 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

England for many years, although they were objects of a 
cruel and unjust persecution. As they were not members 
of the Church, they did not enjoy its protection, nor were 
they protected by the laws of the country. They lived 
solely under the personal protection of the king, and were, 
indeed, looked upon almost as his property, to do with as 
he would. Yet few people at this time contributed so 
largely to the welfare and prosperity of the country as 
they did, by their industry, their frugal habits, and their 
peaceable lives. When a cathedral or castle was to be 
built, it was the Jewish money lenders who advanced the 
funds necessary to carry out the work. The Jewish rabbis, 
too, were among the most learned men of the age. They 
were familiar with medical and other sciences and served 
as teachers to those who wished instruction of this sort. 
In many ways these persecuted people set an example 
of right living to the intolerant English among whom 
they lived. 

Section 26. King John and the Magna Charta 

The king and his barons. From what we have learned 
of English kings up to this time, it is plain that they 
exercised an almost unlimited power over the lives and 
property of their subjects. If the king was a bad man, or 
even a careless or weak one, he could inflict endless suf- 
fering and injustice on his people. He could imprison a 
man or put him to death, if he chose, without even being 



KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 155 

questioned by anybody. He was the owner of every acre 
of land that his barons and knights occupied as vassals, 
and he had the right to take it away from them if they 
broke their oath of allegiance. It was hard for the people 
to think of resisting even the most unjust king. Yet that 
was what John's barons did in 12 15 when they forced him 
to sign a great charter of rights, the Magna Charta. 

For some time, as we may well guess, the barons had 
been discontented with John's treatment of them. His 
treatment of their sons, when he held them as hostages, 
had been most dishonorable and cruel, and he had abused 
his power in numberless ways. The time had come, the 
barons thought, when this state of things was no longer 
to be endured. The king must be made to understand 
how far he could go. 

Archbishop Langton was one of the most active in this 
protest. One day in a great meeting held by the barons 
in London while the king was away fighting in France, 
Langton brought out an old charter granted by an earlier 
king, more than a hundred years before, and read to the 
assembled barons the promises which had been made to 
the people then ; and every man present resolved then and 
there that John must be forced to keep these promises. 

In the year 1215 a great company of barons came to 
him and demanded that he grant them all the rights and 
liberties set forth in a document which Archbishop Lang- 
ton and the barons had drawn up. When Langton read 



156 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the paper to the king, John asked the barons, in a fury, 
why they had not demanded his kingdom also, and swore 
that " he never would grant them such liberties as would 
make him their slave." 

John signs the Magna Charta. The barons, however, 
were not to be turned back. Finding that the king still 
refused their demands, they gathered together a large 
force of knights and barons and common citizens and 
marched against him. When he learned of their coming, 
and realized that of all his subjects there were not more 
than seven or eight knights upon whom he could depend, 
he gave in immediately, for he was as cowardly as he was 
overbearing, and announced that for the sake of peace and 
the honor of the kingdom he would grant them all the laws 
and liberties they asked. On the fifteenth of June, 12 15, 
King John and a great party of barons met together in a 
wide green meadow, called Runnymede, on the banks of 
the Thames, not far from the city of London and near the 
castle of Windsor, where the king was staying ; and here 
the Magna Charta was signed and the king's seal set upon 
it. To-day in the British Museum in London this docu- 
ment, the most famous in all English history, may still be 
seen, with the royal seal hanging from it. 

Provisions of the Magna Charta. What were the restric- 
tions that this famous Great Charter imposed on the 
king? It would be too great a task to go over them all, 
for there are sixty-three separate articles. The most 




^57 



158 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

important one, perhaps, is that which declares that what- 
ever provisions w^ere made for the benefit of the barons 
and knights, w^ho were vassals of the king, must in turn 
be observed by them toward their own vassals, and so 
on down to the common men of small property and no 
title. Thus the liberties that the charter secured were 
for the w4iole body of Englishmen, not for the ruling 
class alone. 

Another provision reads : " No free man shall be taken, 
or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or banished, 
or in any w^ay injured, except by the legal judgment of 
his peers, or by the law of the land." Then follows one, 
in which the king makes the promise, " To no one will 
we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice." 
King John had been violating both of these articles all 
his life, as for that matter had many kings before him. 

Another article declared that the king was not to take 
another man's timber for building castles or for any other 
purpose, without the consent of the owner. Nor could 
the king's men take a peasant's horse and cart to use in 
hauling unless the owaier w^as willing. 

Merchants from friendly countries were now to be al- 
lowed to come and go freely. Heretofore the king had 
not permitted them to enter or leave England without 
special license ; every time a French merchant wished to 
come over into England to sell his silks or his jewelry, 
he had to send to the king for permission. We may 



KING JOHN AND THE CHARTER 159 

imagine that English trade with foreign countries did 
not flourish under these conditions. 

A council of twenty-five barons was to be appointed 
to see that the king kept all the promises in the Great 
Charter. If he ventured to break any of them the barons 
had the right to declare war against him. The document 
was made public throughout all England, so that every 
one in the land might know what the king had agreed to 
do ; and every English king since that time has been 
bound by the promises of this charter. If a king neglected 
or broke them the people sooner or later brought the 
Magna Charta to his notice and forced him to abide by it. 

John himself made no secret of his intention to break 
his promises as soon as he was able, but he found that the 
barons were too strong for him, and after a year of fruit- 
less struggle against them he died of a fever, brought on, 
so the chronicler of his reign tells us, by eating too many 
peaches and drinking too much cider — an ignominious 
ending to the life of a despicable ruler. 

Questions. 1. Do you know whether the king's eldest son is now sup- 
posed to succeed his father on the English throne ? 2. What is a host- 
age ? 3. What is a charter? 4. What was the use of a seal? 5. Can a 
person be left indefinitely in prison to-day without being brought to trial ? 
6. Who was the most powerful man in Europe in 1200 ? 7. Why do we 
consider John's reign an important one in English history ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 1 79-181 
(the rising of the barons); pp. 182-187 (the Great Charter). Bates 
and CoMAN. English History Told by English Poets, p. 8 1 (King John). 



CHAPTER XII 

COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Life on the manor. The serf. Life in castles. The manners and amusements 
of knights and ladies. Minstrelsy. Tournaments. Chivalry 

Section 27. On the Manor 

If we look back over the chapters that have gone before, 
we shall see that for the most part we have talked of 
kings and bishops, of barons, knights, and nobles, and 
their castles and manor houses ; and that very little has 
been said of the common people of the Middle Ages. 
But there were many little hamlets in England in which 
the men who tilled the soil had their homes ; there were 
towns where merchants and workmen lived ; and there 
were monasteries and convents where men and women 
devoted their lives to religion and good works. 

Farms in the Middle Ages. There were no big manu- 
facturing towns in England then. On the great estates 
around the castles, manor houses, and monasteries, farm- 
ing was the chief occupation of the people. Let us pic- 
ture first the life of the men who tilled the soil. What 
was their work, how did they live, and what comforts 

and pleasures had they? 

160 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES i6i 

We may imagine ourselves, then, traveling along an 
English road in the thirteenth century. We should be on 
horseback, for there were probably not more than a dozen 
carriages in the whole country at this time, and they be- 
longed, of course, to the king and to a few of the great 
nobles. Moreover the carriages were so heavy and so lack- 
ing in springs, and the roads, even the best, were so full 




A State Carriage of the Fourteenth Century 



of holes and so often flooded with water or hub-deep with 
mud, that there would be little comfort in riding in them. 
As our horses picked their way over these bad roads 
and through forests in which robbers or outlaws might be 
lying in wait for us, we should every now and then come 
upon a cleared stretch of a hundred or two hundred acres 
of land divided up into a great number of narrow strips, 
where wheat, or oats, or barley, or rye would be growing. 
These strips would be separated from each other only 
by lines of grassy sod and the whole tract would look 
much like a patchwork quilt. 



i62 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

There would be no houses scattered about over this 
land, but as we rode on we should come to a little vil- 
lage of ten, or twenty, or fifty cottages grouped around a 
plot of ground which later came to be called the village 
" green " ; or perhaps ranged along two lanes that crossed 
in the center of the village. Besides these cottages there 
would be a church near by, and not far away would be 
the home of the lord to whom the land and the village 
belonged. The lord might be a noble, and in that case 
it would be a castle that looked down on the fields and 
villages. If "he were simply a knight, his home would 
be a good-sized manor house. 

Manor houses were built of stone or timber, with 
gardens, orchards, and outbuildings around them. There 
were barns for the cattle, a mill where the flour for every- 
body on the estate was ground, a dairy for the making 
of cheese, a building for the brewing of beer and ale, 
and, if the lord of the manor was a wealthy man and 
much given to hunting, there were special quarters for 
his horses, dogs, and falcons. Almost everything that 
was needed on the manor was grown or made there. The 
spinning and weaving of cloth, the carpenter work, the 
blacksmithing, were all provided for. The manor house 
was often called a " hall," because the main room in it was 
a huge hall in which the family lived, ate, and slept. 

The whole manor, with its fields and meadows and 
woods, its manor house and little church, and its group 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 163 

of cottages, was often called the " vill." The lord of the 
manor had entire control of the vill. Part of the land he 
cultivated for himself or rented to free tenants; the rest 
of it was portioned out and farmed by serfs, or villeins, 
as they were called, whose fathers and grandfathers 
before them had farmed the same acres and who were 







V -'■ .• 



English Manor House of the Thirteenth Century 



considered so much a part of the soil that if the land 
passed into another lord's hands they went with it. 

Serfs. There were few ways in which serfs could escape 
from the manor and become freemen. We find an account 
of a villein who somehow made enough money to buy the 
freedom of his father and of all his brothers and sisters. 
But this cannot have happened very often. Most serfs 
who gained their freedom did so by running away. 



i64 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The serfs held various amounts of land, from half an 
acre up to forty or fifty. Those who held a very small 
portion went by the name of " cotters," because they had 
only the bit of land about their cottage. More than half 
of the serf's time had to be spent in the service of his 
lord, which left little for the care of his own acres and 
the raising of his own crops. 

A list of serfs on a great estate in Sussex gives their 
names and their duties to the lord of the manor, and also 
what the lord owed to them. One serf who occupied a 
house and thirty acres had to pay two shillings a year to 
the lord and bring him a cock and two hens every Christ- 
mas. He had to harrow for him two days every spring with 
his own horse and harrow, as well as do many days' work 
of hauling, mowing grass, harvesting, and cutting wood 
during the year. It is plain to see that he must have been 
kept pretty busy. In return for all this the lord agreed to 
give the serf three meals a day while he was working for 
him. Each meal was to consist of beef, cheese, and broth, 
and all three meals were not to cost more than two and a 
half pence. The serf could not sell any of his cattle with- 
out the lord's permission. He could not even marry with- 
out his consent. The free tenants were better off than 
the serfs. They paid a low rent for their land, and from 
time to time gave the lord hens, eggs, and other produce. 

All these restrictions must have made the lot of the 
poor laborer a pretty hard one. And there was nothing 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 165 

in his life at home that helped to make it easier. The 
little cottage in which he lived looked more like a mound 
of earth or a pile of straw than a house, thatched over as 
it was with straw or covered with turf. If the serf owned 




An English Village 

any cattle he kept them in a shed built on to the cottage. 
A hole in the roof was the only chimney that his house 
possessed. Probably there was no window at all, or, if 
any, so small a hole that very little light could enter. 
Inside there was only one room. Here the serf and his 
family lived, ate, and slept. The floor was of earth and 
seldom dry, the beds were piles of straw, and there was 



i66 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



no stove — only an open fire over which his wife cooked 
the meals, much as gypsies do now. There were no 
lamps, no clocks, no books, no chairs — nothing but 
some rude stools and perhaps a table. Food was cut up 
with the knife which the serf carried in his belt, and 

fingers took 
the place of 
spoons and 
forks. 

And what 
did the serf 
and his fam- 
ily have to 
eat ? Not 
much but a 





"tlfe 



A Barn of the Thirteenth Century 



very coarse 
black bread, 

cheese, a little meat, and beer or cider for drink. They 
had no potatoes and very few vegetables of any kind, 
and no tea or coffee or sugar. The only sweetening they 
had was honey, when they had the good luck to find a 
bees' nest in the woods. Of course they had no pepper, 
or spice of any sort. Even salt was very precious, for it 
was all obtained by allowing the water to evaporate from 
pans of sea water. Moreover, most of the salt that they 
could afford to buy had to be used in salting down meat 
for winter use. It was impossible to have fresh meat in 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 167 

winter, because there was only enough fodder to sup- 
port the cattle that were needed for farming purposes. 
All the rest had to be killed before winter set in. 

As for clothes, few serfs had more than one garment, 
a sort of sleeveless coat reaching to the knees, woven of 
wool and belted in with a piece of leather or rope. This 
garment they wore day and night, only taking it off, 
probably, when it was so worn out that it had to be re- 
placed by a new one. As for bathing, that would have 
seemed to them a dangerous proceeding. 

The wretched way in which these poor people lived, 
the dirt and dampness and filth that surrounded them, 
and the food they had to eat caused them to suffer from 
many dreadful diseases such as we scarcely know the 
names of in these days. Men had also much less regard 
for human life at that time than they have now, and a 
serf had very few rights in the eye of the law. He might 
be robbed or even murdered for his few poor possessions, 
and the thief easily escape punishment. In turn if he tried 
to escape from his serfdom and was captured, he might be 
shut up in a loathsome dungeon or fastened by his legs 
and arms in the stocks. If not captured, he might take 
to the forests for refuge, but then he would be counted 
an outlaw ^ whom any man might kill without fear of pun- 
ishment. A gallows at the crossroads, with the body of 

1 Robin Hood, whose adventures in Sherwood Forest are so famous, was an 
outlaw. 



i68 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

some thief or outlaw hanging from it, was no uncommon 
sight in those times. 

This hfe of the serf was the Hfe led by more than half 
of all the people in England in the thirteenth century. 
It would seem to us an existence scarcely to be borne, 
and we cannot wonder that, as the centuries went by 
and people became more civilized, the serfs found it 
harder and harder to live as their fathers had done, and 
that in time they broke loose entirely from their life of 
slavery and made themselves freemen. 

Section 28. Life in the Castles 

There were other people besides serfs and farmers who 
filled the humble walks of life in England in those days, 
— friars, monks, townsmen, and tradesmen, — but before 
we talk of them it will be well to contrast with the serfs 
life that of another class of Englishmen who also lived 
in the country, though in a very different fashion — the 
life of the knights and nobles. 

Castles. We already know something of their castles. 
In spite of the great superiority of these to the homes of 
the poor, and their imposing appearance, with their mas- 
sive walls and keeps commanding the whole countryside, 
they must have been, for most of the year, uncomfort- 
able, dreary places to live in. The tapestry hangings on 
the walls and the open fire in the middle of the big hall 
could not keep out all the cold drafts, and the small rooms 




^69 



I70 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 




A Room ix the Keep of Craigmillar Castle 



that opened off the hall, and were not heated at all, must 
have been chilly indeed in the wintertime. Even summer 
warmth could scarcely make an entrance through the 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGPLS 



171 



thick walls and small windows. The castle, in fact, was 
not built to be a comfortable and pleasant place to live 
in, but as a place of protection against the lord's enemies. 
The central hall, as we have seen, was the main room. 
Here the lord and his family, with his guests and 




Ladies' Costumes in the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and 
Fourteenth Centuries 

retainers and servants, ate their meals, and here all of 
them slept except the lord and lady of the house. The 
latter usually occupied one of the small side rooms. 
This they also used as a reception room, the lady often 
sitting on her bed to receive her guests, as there were 
few chairs in those days. 



172 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

At mealtime long boards were brought into the big 
hall and laid on trestles, to serve as a table. The nobility 
sat at one end of the table, or " board," the attendants at 
the other, with a great saltcellar between, to mark the 
dividing line. 

Manners and amusements of the nobles. The nobles who 
sat above the salt and the others who sat below, all alike 
ate with their fingers, for the notion of forks had not yet 
entered any one's head. The bones were thrown under 
the table to the dogs. Towels and basins of water were 
passed at the end of the meal, and it was thought a piece 
of rudeness to wipe one's fingers on the tablecloth. For 
plates they used great slices of bread, eating them last 
when they were well soaked with gravy or giving them 
to the serving men. 

Here are some rules for polite behavior at table from an 

old book of those times, called the " Boke of Courtasye " : 

Let never thy cheek be made too great 
With morsel of bread that thou shalt eat. 

Thou shalt not laugh nor speak a thing 
While thy mouth be full of meat or drink. 

Other rules forbade one to play with the cat or dog at 
the table, to wipe one's eyes on the tablecloth, to dip 
bread or meat into the saltcellar, or to pick one's teeth 
with a knife or stick. 

After dinner, when the table had been taken away, the 
lords and ladies gave themselves up to the pleasure of 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 173 



the minstrel's songs and music. The minstrel was a 
wandering player who made his living by going from 
castle to castle, singing his songs to the accompaniment 
of a lute or a harp — a welcome visitor everywhere. 

The principal outdoor amusements of the nobles were 
hunting and tournaments. They chased the deer with 
hounds in the forests and parks, 
and hunted wolves and wild boars. 
Hawking, which was their great 
delight, was carried on with the 
aid of hawks, or falcons. These 
birds were trained to chase and 
attack the birds that were being 
hunted. The knight who went 
hawking carried his falcon on his 
wrist, fastened by a chain. Its head 
was covered by a sort of hood, 
saw his game — a wild duck, a partridge, or perhaps 
a heron — the falcon was unhooded and released, to 
swoop down upon its victim. So precious were falcons 
that it was counted a serious crime to steal one, and a 
man might be imprisoned a year for destroying its eggs. 

Besides hunting there were various other amusements. 
The great favorite for indoors was chess, while outside 
the game of tennis was popular. Even the most distin- 
guished persons were not above enjoying rough jokes, 
for a description in one of the old chronicles of a scene 




Gentleman with Hawk 
When the hunter 



174 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



in an abbey orchard tells how the king and his nobles 
amused themselves by pelting each other with apples 
and dirt, and squeezing the juice of unripe grapes into 
each other's eyes. 

The English people of those times had a great fond- 
ness for flowers, as they have to-day, and many manor 
houses had gardens where it was the pleasant custom in 
summer to receive one's guests and to walk hand in 
hand — or finger in finger, as the fashion was then — 
down the flower-bordered alleys, the ladies gathering the 
blossoms to make garlands and chaplets for their hair. 
An old song praises 

The merry time of May 
When ladies strew their bowers 
With red roses and lily flowers. 

The tournament. The supreme entertainment, however, 
of all the nobility of this age — often called the age of 
chivalry — was the tournament. In Chapter X we spoke 
of the training that a boy must receive before he could 
be made a knight — how he must first serve as a page 
in some noble's court, and, as he grew older, act as 
squire to his lord until, having proved himself worthy of 
knighthood, he was girded with his sword by the king 
or some older knight. 

The proving himself worthy of knighthood, or the 
" winning of his spurs," as it was called, would natu- 
rally have taken place in war, but as the continual 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



175 



neighborhood warfare of earher times gradually decreased 
and there was not always a chance to fight, the knights 
invented a sort of play war. 

This playing at war was 
called the tourney, or tourna- 
ment. It was a sham battle in 
w^iich knights fought against 
one another for the pleasure 
and glory of the contest. They 
rode into the field that had 
been set off for the tournament 
on horseback and in full armor, 
lances leveled at one another, 
and fought until one side was 
unhorsed. Many knights and 
ladies surveyed the battle from 
a gallery overlooking the field, 
each lady wearing the colors of 
the knight she favored. One 
lady was honored above the 
rest by the title of " Queen of 
the Tournament " or " Queen 

of Love and Beauty." From her the successful knights 
received their guerdon, or prize. Sometimes it was a 
wreath of flowers, sometimes a " milk-white falcon " 
or " three fair steeds," or perhaps gold pieces and 
jewels. 




A Knight in Armor 



176 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Often these play battles had serious results. Many 
stories tell of knights wounded and even killed in tourna- 
ments ; but this did not prevent their growing more and 
more popular among the knightly class, for it gave the 
knight an opportunity to display not only his courage 
but his devotion to his lady — in short, his chivalry. 

Chivalry of the Middle Ages. This is what chivalry 
meant to a knight — to be brave in war, honorable toward 
an enemy, courteous to all women and ready to help them 
in distress, and to give to some one lady his whole love 
and loyalty. A knight was the most perfect ideal of a 
man that the Middle Ages could conceive. But bravery, 
faithful service to his lady, courtesy to his equals, and 
devotion to the Church were all he aimed at. To those be- 
neath him in rank, such as the peasant and the merchant, 
his behavior was far from ideal. He looked upon them as 
another set of beings, created only to serve and support 
him. The knight despised even the priest and the monk 
because they did not fight, for fighting was the serious 
business of his life, and his sword he held dear as life 
itself. A dying knight thus speaks in an old romance : 
" Now take I leave of chivalry, which I have much loved 
and honored. Alas, my sword ! What wilt thou do now ? 
Thou wilt leave thy master ; never wilt thou have another 
so good ! " 



COUNTRY PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 177 

Questions. 1. How was a serf to be distinguished from a slave ? 
2. Why was a peasant called a "villein" in the Middle Ages? 3. Could 
there have been use for much money on a thirteenth-century manor ? 
4. Do you think that poor people now are worse off than they were in 
England six or seven hundred years ago ? 5. Can you now see the origin 
of our word " boarding " ? 6. What kind of a person would you regard 
as chivalrous ? 7. How did the lives of the rich in the Middle Ages 
differ from those of the rich of to-day ? 8. Would you rather have lived 
in the thirteenth century than in the twentieth ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 212-215 
(a manor); pp. 215-217 (a villein's duties). Robinson. Readings in 
European History^ Vol. I, pp. 399-405 (account of two English 
manors); pp. 405-406 (freeing of a serf); pp. 435-437 (troubadour 
songs). Pyle. Robin Hood. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

The power and wealth of the Church in the Middle Ages. Church officers. 

The cathedral. Monasteries and the occupations of the monks. St. Francis 

and his order of mendicant friars. The Dominicans 

Section 29. The Power of the Church 

However much may be said of the might of kings and 
nobles in the Middle Ages, with their strong castles and 
their knights and men at arms, the Church and its officials 
were in many ways even more powerful and influential 
than they. In Chapter VI ^ w^e learned about the begin- 
nings of the great organization called the Church, and 
we shall now learn something of what it had grown to 
be during the thousand or more years since that time. 

Why the Church was so powerful. It is not hard to see 
why the Church was so powerful. The union of Church 
and State was so close that disloyalty to one was looked 
upon as disloyalty to the other. Kings and other rulers 
were usually quite willing to arrest those accused of dis- 
loyalty to the Church and its teachings. If the Church 
court, after trying a man, declared him to be a heretic, — 
one who positively refused to accept the teachings of the 

1 See pp. 81-83. 
178 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



179 



Church, — he was turned over to the government officials 
to be punished according to law, for the State considered 
heresy as bad as treason — a form of treason, in fact, and 
therefore a capital crime. 

Then the Church was very rich. Rich 
men, rulers, and nobles frequently gave 
manors, serfs, buildings, and various 
other valuable things as a pious tribute. 
The Church had a right also to impose 
a special tax for its support (called the 
tithe), and contributions were made 
when there was a baptism, a marriage, 
or a burial in a family. 

The churchmen owed much of their 
power, also, to the fact that during 
the greater part of the Middle Ages 
they alone knew anything about books. 
The priest was often the only one in 
the village who could read. Kings 
sometimes could not read or write. 
Indeed, if a man could read, it was 
taken for granted that he was a churchman of some sort. 

Church organization. The Pope, as has been said, was 
the head of this mighty organization of the Church. Next 
to him came the archbishops. There were two of these 
in England. They had the supervision of Church matters 
in England. They were also great feudal lords, holding 




Archbishop's Dress 



i8o INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

vast estates from the king and receiving immense incomes 
from the manors under their control. If they wished, they 
could raise from their vassals an army equal to any in 
the country. 

Next to the archbishops came the other bishops. Many 
important towns were the seats of bishops. A town in 
those days was not called a city unless it was the residence 
of a bishop and was dignified by one of the beautiful and 
impressive churches called cathedrals. 

A bishop had general charge of all the churches that 
lay within a certain stated distance from the city in 
which he lived, as well as of the neighboring monas- 
teries. They made up his " diocese." If a man wanted 
to become a priest, only a bishop could make him one ; 
and no one but a bishop could anoint a king when he was 
crowned. Often the king's best councilors and officers 
were the archbishops and bishops of his realm. 

As symbols of his power and his sacred character the 
bishop wore on his head the miter, — a curious high cap 
with a deep cleft, — and in his hand he carried a staff 
called the crozier. A bishop dressed in his robes, wearing 
his miter and carrying his crozier, was a very stately and 
dignified figure indeed. 

This then was the great English Church system of the 
Middle Ages. First, the Pope at Rome in control of all 
archbishops, bishops, and priests throughout Christen- 
dom — in France and Germany and Italy as well as in 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES i8i 

England ; next the archbishops of Canterbury and York 
at the head of the Enghsh bishops, just as archbishops in 
other Christian nations of Europe were at the head of the 
bishops in their countries ; then the bishops, presiding in 
the cathedral towns and overseeing all the priests in their 
dioceses ; lastly, the priests, in charge of their small 
churches and the people of their parishes. 

Section 30. Cathedrals 

The churches of the archbishops and bishops were 
called cathedral churches, from the name of the bishop s 
throne-like chair, the cathedra. These bishops' churches 
were wonderfully impressive and beautiful edifices. In all 
the years that have passed since the thirteenth century, 
of which we are now speaking, men have never succeeded 
in erecting any buildings that equal them in their union 
of dignity, splendor, and beauty. 

When a cathedral was to be built the most famous 
architects and builders, the finest carvers in wood and 
stone, the most expert painters, and the cleverest makers 
of stained glass were summoned from France, where the 
greatest skill was to be found, to take charge of the work. 
And not only that — all the people of the town had a 
share in it also. Rich and poor alike helped to build 
and ornament it with their own hands, or helped to pay 
for its erection with their money; and all alike had the 
deepest pride and interest in it. 



i82 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

So it has come about that to-day all over England, 
France, Italy, and Germany these wonderful old churches 
are to be seen. And they are still the pride and glory of 




Canterbury Cathedral, England 

their towns, although for more than five centuries they 
have been lifting their beautiful towers and spires to 
the sky. 

Cathedral architecture. A cathedral floor was in the 
form of a cross. The long arm of the cross ran east and 
west and was called the nave ; the shorter part, crossing 
it, formed the transept ; and separated from these two 
parts by pillars and arches ran one or more side aisles. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



183 



The east end of the nave was called the choir. This was 
the most sacred part of the cathedral. Here were the altar 
and the sacred relics, and here High Mass was celebrated. 
Beneath the cathe- 
dral was a sort of 
basement, called the 
crypt, which was 
used as a place of 
burial for distin- 
guished persons. 

The w^alls of a 
cathedral were em- 
bellished with bril- 
liant paintings of 
scenes from the 
Bible and from the 
lives of the saints. 
The great windows 
were divided into 
smaller spaces by 
fine stone tracery 
and filled with pieces 
of beautifully colored glass fitted together into pictures. 
The light that came through the crimson, blue, and violet 
panes cast a rich glow over the stone carving on pillar and 
arch and glorified the whole cathedral. The stained glass 
of these old cathedrals has never since been equaled. 




The Choir of Wells Cathedral, 
England 



i84 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

No cathedral was finished in three or four years, as 
most of our fine churches and other buildings are now. 
Many of them were a hundred years or more in building, 
and some were never entirely finished. The bishops who 
presided over them were always changing and rebuilding 
and enlarging them. 

To the different styles of building that were invented, 
one after another, we give different names. The first 
style in which much building was done in England was 
the Norman, which is somewhat like that of the old build- 
ings that the Romans had erected throughout France. 
The pillars in churches of this style are round, massive, 
and heavy, and the arches are rounded, giving an impres- 
sion of dignity and grandeur. 

From the Norman style gradually developed the great- 
est glory of the age of cathedral building, the Gothic 
style. The arches of windows and aisles became pointed 
and high, the pillars tall and slender, and the towers more 
aspiring. The pillars were carved with flowers and leaves, 
the window tracery grew to look like lace work in stone, 
the doorways were marvels of richness. Everywhere, in- 
side and out of the cathedral, wherever architects could 
use it, there was carving. Even far up on the roof and 
the spires the most lovely stonework was to be found. 

Sometimes, among the delicate carved flowers and 
vines, we find the queer figures and faces called gargoyles, 
that the Gothic architect thought added somehow to the 




Gloucester Cathedral and Cloisters, England 



[85 



& 




mm 



l86 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

perfection of his work. He put them within and without 
the cathedral, and just at the moment when one is gazing 
enraptured at the soaring spires the eye may fall on one 
of these grotesque, grinning figures of man or beast 
perched on the stone gutter of the roof above. 

The parish church. Far 
less imposing than the bish- 
ops and their cathedrals 
were the priests and their 
parish churches. From the 
church shown in the illus- 
tration on page 151 it will 
be seen how insignificant 
these buildings were, com- 
pared with the cathedrals, 
though very picturesque, 
nevertheless, to our eyes. To the poor serfs and vil- 
lagers their parish church no doubt seemed a wonder- 
fully fine edifice. Here services were held, the lord of 
the manor and his family in the front, and behind them 
the tenants and serfs of the estates. 




Gargoyles 



Section 31. Monasteries 
Besides parish churches and cathedrals there were 
other important religious buildings, namely, the monas- 
teries, or abbeys.-^ We have already heard something of 

1 Monasteries were usually called abbeys in England, because the larger ones 
were presided over by abbots. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



187 



them, but we must consider them a httle more closely, 
for they were the home, the school, and the church com- 
bined of a vast number of people in the Middle Ages. 
Whenever men and women grew sick of the fighting and 
turmoil of the times, or desired to devote their lives to 




W5^ 



;:=:UJ^i^' 



A School Scene in the Twelfth Century 



religion or study, they retired from the world. The men 
went to live in a monastery, the women in a convent. 
There they were pretty sure to find quiet and plenty of 
occupation. The gentler and more pious among them 
found constant opportunity for devoting themselves to 
God's service by attending Mass, taking part in the fre- 
quent services of the monastery church, and caring for 



i88 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the poor and sick, while for the more active there was 
much work to be done, both indoors and out. 

Monastery buildings. The buildings of a monastery, if 
it was a large one, were numerous, for a complete monas- 
tery establishment carried on many industries ; but of 
all the buildings connected with it, the church was by 
far the most important. 

Next to the church the most frequented parts of an 
abbey were the cloisters and the quadrangle. The quad- 
rangle was the square of ground which the monastery 
buildings inclosed. Around its four sides and adjoining 
these buildings ran a covered walk called the cloisters. 
The roof of the cloister walk in the finer monasteries 
was often supported by beautifully carved pillars. The 
floor was paved with big flagstones, and along the walls 
were benches and seats for the comfort of the monks, 
who spent much of their time there. 

The rest of the quadrangle was either a plot of green 
grass, or was planted with flowers and shrubs, with per- 
haps a plashing fountain in the middle. Here, on the 
sunny side, the monks might often be seen reading, or 
teaching a group of boys from the neighborhood to 
read or to chant the Church service. 

Besides the various other buildings in which the 
monks ate and slept and carried on their occupations, 
there was one called the scriptorium, where an important 
part of the work done by the monks was performed. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 189 

The scriptorium, as its name implies (derived from the 
Latin scribo, " to write "), was a writing room. The printing 
press had not yet been invented, and all books and docu- 
ments had to be copied by hand. The only persons who 
were sufficientlv educated to do this, and who had the 




A Monastery Kitchen, Marienburg, Germany 

time for it, were the monks. Besides the continual copy- 
ing of books, some of the monasteries kept a sort of 
chronicle, running on year after year, of the chief events 
of their time. Then, as the monasteries owned great 
estates, with numbers of peasants and tenants renting 
various plots of land, large and small, there were many 
deeds and business contracts to be drawn up and ac- 
counts to be kept. 



I90 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Many of the books copied by the monks of this age 
are very beautiful. The black letters, in the style called 
Gothic, are wonderfully clear and distinct. On the mar- 
gins of the pages there are often charming borders of 
flowers and bijds, vines and leaves and little animals, 




From a Copley Print. Copyright, 1899, Curtis and Cameron 

The Manuscript Book 

(After the painting by John W. Alexander) 



painted in scarlet and blue and purple and green on 
a background of gold. Often, too, there are pictures, 
painted most exquisitely in the same brilliant colors. 
Sometimes if there were no bright pictures, there would 
at least be gold or gay-colored initial letters at the be- 
ginning of a page. The book was bound in heavy leather 
backs, stamped in beautiful designs in gold leaf, and 
fastened with massive clasps. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 191 

The life of a monk. The life of a monk was, as a rule, 
a very active one. He was obliged to rise at two or three 
o'clock in the morning for the service called vigils, and 
after Mass and breakfast to attend to his appointed duties 



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Illuminated M 



AN U SCRIPT 



(From the Wycliffe Bible in the British Museum, London) 

about the monastery. The rules of some orders required 
attendance in church as often as seven times every day. 
The duties were various. Some of the monks might be 
found superintending the serfs and farmers or working in 
the fields themselves ; some were busy looking after the 



192 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

kitchen and the supply of food ; some did gardening ; 
some kept the scriptorium suppHed with ink, pens, and 
parchment ; others, as we have seen, were occupied with 

copying or writing, or 
teaching children from 
the neighborhood to read 
and write. Still others 
would be detailed to look 
after the guests that were 
certain to be enjoying the 
hospitality of the mon- 
astery, for a monastery 
was almost the only sort 
of inn there was in those 
times, and the monks 
were bound to entertain 
all who came to their 
doors. 

In the richer abbeys 
the lives of the monks 
were often more luxurious 
than St. Benedict would 
have wished. The rules that he had laid down more than 
six hundred years before enjoined a very plain and simple 
way of living.^ But in later times, when monasteries had 
grown more wealthy, the monks found it harder and 

1 See p. 88. 




Courtesy of Methuen & Company 

Nuns in Choir 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 193 

harder to live in this way. So there was need of some 
one to teach again a simple way of life and lessons of 
service to the world outside the monastery precincts. 
Such a teacher was St. Francis of Assisi. 

Section 32. The Friars 

St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis of Assisi, born in 
Italy toward the close of the twelfth century, was not at 
all a saint for the first twenty years of his life. He was a 
gay, romantic, rich young man, who thought very little 
about religious matters. When he was twenty, however, 
he fell ill and was sick for a long time. After he had re- 
covered he found that he no longer cared for the pleasures 
of his former life. All his thoughts were turned toward 
helping the sick and wretched about him. He gave away 
all he had to the needy, and in the ardor of his devotion 
made himself wash the sores of the poor lepers in the 
village. He was not at all troubled when his father, in 
anger and disgust, disinherited him. He cheerfully gave 
up his fine clothes and jewels, and putting on the .cast- 
off garments of a gardener, went on doing good in what- 
ever way he could. 

One day when he was in church the priest read from 
the Bible the words, " And as ye go, preach, saying : ' The 
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' Get you no gold nor 
silver, nor brass in your purses, no wallet for your journey, 
neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff." To Francis these 



194 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

words seemed spoken directly to himself, and without 
more ado he set about doing their bidding. He threw 
away his shoes, his wallet, and his staff, and with nothing 
but a single garment, girt about with a piece of cord, he 
set forth to preach the sweet and comforting words of the 
gospel to the destitute and wretched of his country. He 
took no thought even of food for himself, but depended 
on the charity of others for it. And his faith was justified ; 
what was necessary was always provided for him. 

Many gave up their homes and their possessions and 
joined him in his wandering life. In 1 210 he persuaded 
Pope Innocent III to give the sanction of the Church to 
his preaching and to that of his followers. They called 
themselves/r^'^rj- (that is, brethreii), and later they came to 
be called mendicant friars because for their living they de- 
pended upon what they could beg. It was the rule of the 
order that they must own no property whatever. Their 
mission was to help and cheer the poorest, lowest, and 
most degraded, the outcasts of society. So everywhere 
throughout Italy went St. Francis and his followers, bring- 
ing joy and consolation to the sorrowful and destitute. 

Dominican friars. At about the same time that Francis 
began his wandering life of preaching and helping the 
poor, a young Spanish churchman, named Dominic, also 
set out to travel, and preach as he went. His followers 
were called preaching friars, ^ 

^ They also were called mendicant friars. 




195 



196 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

It was not long before the Dominican and Franciscan 
friars found their way over into England. Here they were 
received with open arms and their preaching listened to 
with joy and enthusiasm. The Franciscans wore gray 
gowns and the Dominicans black ones, and the Gray 
Friars and the Black Friars, as they were called, were 
seen on all the highways of England, exhorting and com- 
forting the people after their different fashions. Many 
joined them, and many others, who did not wish to give 
up their whole lives to this work, still helped them in 
every way they could. 

Questions, l. What is meant by f/ie clergy ? 2. Do you know whether 
there are any cathedrals in this country ? 3. Have you ever seen a Gothic 
window ? 4. What English king was reigning when Pope Innocent II X 
gave Francis of Assisi permission to establish the order of mendicant 
friars ? 5. Which picture in this book illustrates the Norman style of 
architecture ? 6. Which English cathedrals are shown in this book, and 
what others can you find out about ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 195-200 
(an English monastery); pp. 166-167 (^ dinner with the monks at 
Canterbury). Robinson. Readings in European History, pp. 364-368 
(how people of the Middle Ages felt toward heretics); pp. 378-379 
(a visit to a convent); pp. 387-395 (St. Francis of Assisi). The Little 
Flowers of St. Francis. 



CHAPTER XIV 

TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

How towns grew up. Their appearance. Merchants. Merchant guilds. Trade 
guilds. Markets and fairs. Importance of towns 

Section 33. The Towns 

We have already spoken of towns in England, but 
towns were very different six hundred years ago from 
what they are now. At the time about which we are 
studying, in the reign of King John's successor, Henry III, 
there were only about two hundred towns, or boroughs, 
as they were called, in England, and the largest of these, 
London, had a population of less than ten thousand. 

Growth and appearance of towns in the Middle Ages. 
Towns had been very slow in growing up in England. 
Sometimes they grew up around a castle. Sometimes 
they grew up on the coast near a good harbor where 
trading ships from other countries were likely to put in, 
and there was a chance for English merchants to carry 
on trade with the sailors. Sometimes they sprang up near 
one of the important monasteries, for among the pilgrims 
it attracted there would be many to buy the bread and 
ale and cheese, the shoes and cloaks, the knives and 

swords, that the English workmen could make. 

197 



198 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

A medieval town in England looked very different 
indeed from any towns that we have in our country. In 
the first place it was almost always small, and the houses 
were crowded very close together. The streets were so 

narrow that the build- 
ings almost met over- 
head, and housewives 
could easily gossip 
out of an upper win- 
dow with neighbors 
across the way. There 
were no sidewalks. 
Every one walked in 
the crooked, ill-paved 
streets. Very often 
the whole town was 
shut in by a high wall 
in which were several 
big gates that were 
closed at a certain time 
in the evening. After 
that time no one could come in or go out without special 
permission. In Chester to-day one may take a pleasant 
walk along a ledge on the inside of the old wall that 
still surrounds the town. 

The houses of the townspeople were plain affairs, 
generally built of wood and plaster, and there was little 




A Gate in the Old 'I'owx Wall, 
Southampton, England 



TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN MIDDLE AGES 199 

attempt to beautify them. The citizens were more inter- 
ested in erecting a fine hall in which to hold their meet- 
ings, and, if their town was a cathedral city, in building 
the most beautiful cathedral possible. The old halls in 
London and elsewhere in England are buildings that any 
town to-day might be proud of. 

Town merchants. When we picture a merchant of the 
Middle Ages w^e must not fancy him behind a counter 
selling silks and muslins, hats, or shoes, or stationery, 
or other goods which he has ordered from as many dif- 
ferent factories. Still less should we think of him as run- 
ning a department store, where many clerks sell things 
brought from all parts of the world. The establishment 
of a merchant of the Middle Ages was more like the 
small shoemaker's shop we sometimes see to-day, where 
the shoemaker, sitting on his bench in the front room of 
his house, makes his shoes before our eyes and displays 
them for sale in the window. For the medieval merchant 
not only sold goods but also made them. He was both 
a manufacturer and a merchant. 

His house was a plain one, as has been said, crowded 
with others in a narrow street. Within the house were 
very few rooms, and these poorly lighted. The window 
on the street and the open door lighted the shop. In 
the window were shown whatever wares he made and 
had for sale. If he was a weaver his rolls of cloth were 
to be seen there, and he and his apprentices did the 



200 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

weaving in the same room, or, if he were prosperous, in 
another larger room back of the Httle front one. The 
tailors also lived in this way, and the glovers, the gold- 
smiths, the jewelers, the shoemakers, the brewers, the 
bakers, and all the other artisans and tradesmen. 

The names of these trades came in time to be used as 
the surnames of those engaged in them, and have been 
kept as family names to our own day. Such names as 
Glover, Weaver, Smith, Carpenter, Taylor, are some of 
them, and it is easy to think of many similar ones. 

Section 34. The Guilds 

Guild rules. At first there was one big union, or guild, 
to which all tradesmen belonged, whatever their business. 
It was called the merchant guild. No citizen in the 
town could make or sell any kind of goods unless he 
belonged to it. No man could come into the town from 
other towns or countries and sell or make goods of any 
sort without special permission from the guild. All the 
members were bound to stand by one another like 
brothers. If one of them lost his money, his fellow guilds- 
men must assist him from their own means. When a 
member died all the others must attend the service in 
the church and must bear the body to the place of burial. 
If a member's wife and children should be in want after 
his death, the guild had to see that they were cared for. 
Much of this reminds us of the modern trade-unions. 



TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN MIDDLE AGES 201 

The members of the merchant guild in every town 
erected as splendid a hall as they could afford, in which 
to hold their meetings. Here they met to draw up their 
rules and to impose fines on any who should have 
broken them. Here too they held great banquets at 
least once a year. 

In later years the old guildhalls were sometimes used 
as town halls, where the town councils and town officials 
held their meetings. They were handsome, dignified 
buildings, with fine oak-raftered and oak-paneled rooms, 
often splendidly carved. 

Trade, or craft, guilds. In time the great merchant guild 
grew less and less important, because different tradesmen 
began forming smaller guilds for each craft. The wool 
merchants were united into the guild of wool merchants, 
the tailors into the tailors' guild, the carpenters into the 
carpenters' guild, the goldsmiths into the goldsmiths' 
guild, and so on, until there were as many guilds in 
every English town as there were industries. 

All the members of a particular guild were likely 
to be found living in the same quarter of the town. In 
one quarter would be found shoemakers, in another car- 
penters and joiners, in another makers of swords and 
workers in iron. In each guild was the same feeling of 
brotherhood that had been in the big general guild of 
merchants, and much the same rules were laid down for 
the members. 



202 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Whatever goods the members of each guild made had 
to be made according to strict rules. The baker's bread 
had to be of a certain weight, the brewer's ale must be 
of a certain strength, the cloth maker must manufacture 
his cloth just so wide and so heavy, or the inspectors ap- 
pointed by every guild to test, weigh, and measure all the 
goods made by its members would impose a heavy fine. 

There were other rules, too, binding members of craft 
guilds. They were forbidden to work after nightfall, 
because it was thought that no man could work so neatly 
by night as by day ; and also he could more easily prac- 
tice deception by night. A metal worker, for example, 
might introduce into his work at night bad iron or copper, 
and metals that had been cracked, without being found 
out by the inspectors. Then, too, there was danger of 
fire from the forges of the iron makers, if they were made 
to blaze up and send out their sparks after the people of 
the neighborhood were all in bed and asleep. Other rules 
forbade the members of the guild to speak rudely to one 
another, or to call names, or to come before the guild com- 
pany with the cap or hood on the head, or barefoot. The 
breaking of any of these rules was punished by a fine. 

So the members of a craft guild, living in the same 
street, working at the same business, obeying the same 
rules, meeting together in their guildhall for business or 
pleasure, and helping one another in time of trouble or 
need, came to feel much like brothers. 



TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN MIDDLE AGES 203 

Section 35. Markets and Fairs 

Once or twice a week a market was held, sometimes 
inside the town and sometimes outside. The favorite 
place for it was the churchyard and the favorite day was 
Sunday, until church officials put a stop to this practice. 
But it was so convenient for people who were busy every 
day during the week to meet in the churchyard on Sun- 
day, when they came out of church, and dispose of the 
produce they had brought with them, that it was a long 
time before the custom was given up. 

English fairs. There were many luxuries, however, 
that the English lords and ladies felt they must have, 
which English guilds did not make and which were not 
sold either in their shops or in the country markets. 
Where then did they buy the silks and rich furs, the 
elegantly wrought bracelets and necklaces and rings, and 
the fine scarlet cloth that they wore, and that were 
brought into England from Italy, France, Belgium, and 
Germany? It was at the famous English fairs that for- 
eign merchants had a chance to sell these things to 
the nobility, and to buy in return the English goods that 
they wanted to take back to their own countries. 

Once in so often, usually every year, one of these great 
fairs was held near every large town in England. As the 
time for its opening drew near, the owner of the land on 
which it was held began to get the place ready. Long 



204 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

lines of wooden booths or tents were erected so as to 
form streets, and a wooden fence put up around the 
whole place to keep out all except those who paid the 
entrance fee at the gates. As different traders arrived, 
either English merchants, or foreign ones from Germany, 
France, or Italy, they were given certain booths in the 
fair grounds. All the merchants of the same country, or 
those selling the same goods, occupied the same quarter, 
so that it might be easy for buyers to find what they 
wanted. Every one who came in, either to buy or to 
sell, had to pay an admission fee, which went to the lord 
or abbot who owned the land on which the fair was held. 
To make trade better, all the shops in the town near by 
were closed and all town business stopped until the fair 
was over. Most fairs lasted about two weeks, during 
which time the town tradesmen could move out to the 
fair grounds if they wished, and do business there. 

Besides the regular merchants in the fair there were 
great numbers of peddlers, beggars, fakirs, jugglers, and 
clowns, ready to sell their cheap goods and show off their 
tricks to any one who would pay them ; and everywhere 
among the buyers and sellers went the inspectors, test- 
ing the weights and measures and examining the quality 
of the goods, for everything that was sold must be of a 
certain standard. 

Different fairs were famous for different things. If a man 
wanted to buy furs, or tar, or fish he went to Stourbridge 



TOWNS AND BUSINESS IN MIDDLE AGES 205 

fair, for it was here that foreign merchants from the 
north of Europe came with these goods, taking back 
with them across the sea the wool and heavy cloth that 
England was noted for. At Winchester fair merchants 
from Italy displayed their goods, silks, spices, ivory and 
gems, fine cloths, oil, and wine — luxuries that were not 
produced in England. Other fairs were noted for being 
good horse fairs, or leather fairs, or cloth fairs. 

Importance of towns. Gradually, however, as towns 
increased in importance and size and grew more willing to 
open their gates to foreign trade, the number of fairs de- 
creased, and the towns became the centers of business and 
trade, as well as of schools and arts and industries. If it 
had not been for the rise of towns where men could work 
together, meet foreigners, see books, pictures, and beau- 
tiful buildings, and get new ideas, we should doubtless still 
be living somewhat as people did in the Middle Ages. 

Questions. 1. What makes a town grow up nowadays? 2. What is 
the population of the largest town you know of ? 3. Do you think that 
there could have been any factories like ours in the Middle Ages ? 
4. Can you see any difference between a modern trade-union and a med- 
ieval guild ? 5. Do we have fairs now ? 6. Can you give other proper 
names derived from trades besides those mentioned in this chapter ? 
7. Do we have public inspectors of weights and measures ? 8. What 
pleasures did the people of the Middle Ages have that we do not have ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, p. 208 (a town 
charter); pp. 209-211 (guild rules). Robinson. Readings in European 
History, Vol. I, pp. 406-409 (town charters) ; 409-412 (guild rules). 



CHAPTER XV 

THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 

Marco Polo. Kublai Khan, the ruler of Cathay. Japan and Java. Henry the 

Navigator. Diaz and the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope. Columbus and 

the discovery of America. John Cabot's voyage to North America. Vasco da 

Gama. How Portugal gained at the expense of Venice and Genoa 

Section 36. Marco Polo 

In Chapter X we read of the Crusaders and of what 
they learned in their journeys to Palestine. But they never 
went any distance in from the coast, and almost nothing 
was known of the great countries that lay on the other 
side of Asia until about 1300, when a book appeared 
in Italy describing in a most interesting way the adven- 
tures of a certain Marco Polo, who had spent a long 
time in China and seen a great deal of the countries 
of eastern Asia. 

Marco Polo and the Khan. The father and uncle of 
Marco Polo were Venetian merchants, of noble family, 
who traded in silks, gems, and spices from the East. 
They often made long journeys into the interior of Asia, 
and once they took young Marco with them and traveled 
far across Asia into the great realm of China — or Cathay, 
as it was then called. 

206 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 



207 



The ruler of Cathay at this time was Kiiblai, called by 
his subjects Khan, " the great lord of lords." Kublai 
Khan was immensely pleased with the Venetians. They 
were the first Europeans he had ever seen, and he listened 
with delight to all they had to tell of cities and men in 
their own country. 

For seventeen years 
Marco Polo remained 
with his father and 
uncle at the court of 
Kublai Khan. He 
adopted the Chinese 
dress and manners 
and learned to speak 
the four languages 
used in the Khan's 
empire. He became 
so great a favorite 
and proved himself so 
capable that he was made governor of a large Chinese 
city, and a number of times he went to countries far and 
near, on business of the Khan, visiting regions utterly 
unknown to Europeans. Wherever he went he took 
note of the appearance of the people and of their man- 
ners and ways of living, and upon his return related 
it all to the great Khan, who particularly delighted in 
hearing things of that sort. 




Marco Polo 



2o8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

At last the Polos, who had become very rich during 
their stay in Cathay, began to long to see their Venetian 
home again. It was with great difficulty, however, that 




The Return of the Polos 



they persuaded the unwilling Khan to let them go ; but 
when finally he consented, he sent them away in royal 
fashion, providing them with ships and crews to carry 
them and their treasures the whole distance from Cathay 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 209 

around to Persia, where they were to leave the ships and 
make the rest of the trip overland. It was a long journey, 
for more than two years had passed by the time they 
reached Venice. 

Here, on account of their long absence, their curiously 
fashioned garments, and their sunburned, weather-beaten 
faces, they had much difificulty in making themselves 
known to their friends, who could not believe that these 
strange-looking persons were the long-absent Polos. It was 
only after showing the heaps of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, 
and diamonds which they had brought from Cathay, sewed 
up for safety in the seams of their clothes, that the Vene- 
tians would believe the marvelous stories they told, and 
receive them with the honors due the Polo family. 

Marco Polo's book. A few years later when Marco Polo 
was fighting for the Venetian republic against Genoa, he 
was taken captive and imprisoned in the latter city. Here 
he became acquainted with another Italian prisoner, who 
was so deeply interested in all that Marco had to tell of 
the wonders of his travels in the East that he begged to 
be allowed to write them down. 

In the book he wrote is a long account of the great Khan 
and his vast empire. The number of flourishing cities and 
towns in Cathay, the excellence of the roads, the good 
government prevailing everywhere, the splendor of the 
Khan's parks and palaces, as well as his stores of gold 
and precious stones, are all described. 



2IO INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

He wrote of Japan, also, and said that the quantity of 
gold they had was endless. They had pearls in abundance, 
too, of rose color, fine, big, and round, and they had 
quantities of other precious stones besides. 

The island of Java, he wrote, was one of surpassing 
wealth, and produced black pepper, nutmegs, cloves, spike- 
nard, and all other kinds of spices. India and the island 
of Ceylon, too, were described as rich in pearls, rubies, 
and other precious jewels, and in all kinds of spices. 

It is easy to see how this account of Marco Polo's travels 
must have interested everybody who read it. The descrip- 
tion of the Spice Islands and of the wonderful wealth 
of Japan especially aroused enthusiasm for discovering a 
shorter and easier way to these marvelous countries. 

Section 37. Henry the Navigator 

About a hundred and fifty years after Marco Polo's 
book was written, a Portuguese prince, Henry by name, 
became so interested in reading about the discoveries of 
the past and in planning new ones that he gave up the 
gay life at the royal court of Lisbon and built himself a 
home overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where he might 
study and make his plans undisturbed. He built houses, 
also, in which his sailors and shipbuilders might live, and 
an observatory from which he could study astronomy. 
He paid skillful navigators to instruct his men in the art 
of building the strongest ships and of sailing them, and 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 211 

before many years had passed he had won for himself 
the name of Henry the Navigator. 

Prince Henry *s efforts to find a sea route to India. His 
greatest desire was to find a route to India by sea around 
Africa. There were three reasons why he was so desirous 
of making this discovery : he wanted to learn more of the 
world and know for certain what lay beyond Africa ; he 
wished to spread the knowledge of Christianity by con- 
verting the inhabitants of new lands ; and, most of all, he 
desired to increase his own and his country's wealth and 
fame by the jewels and spices he was sure he would find. 

None of the many expeditions he sent out succeeded 
in getting even halfway down the long African coast, and 
men laughed at him, and blamed him for what they 
thought a terrible waste of money. But he refused to 
give up his plans. Nor, indeed, w^ere his ventures un- 
profitable, for every ship that was sent out to skirt the 
coast of Africa brought back further knowledge of the 
country, and although he did not live to see the longed- 
for route discovered, his mariners, before his death, had 
gone as far south as the Cape Verde Islands and taken 
possession of them for Portugal. 

Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope. Prince Henry's 
perseverance and success inspired his countrymen to 
keep on trying to get around the great continent of 
Africa. When we look at the map and see the huge 
expanse of open sea that stretches from Portugal to the 



212 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Cape of Good Hope, we must wonder at the boldness of 
the men who first made the voyage ; and we wonder the 
more when we remember how small were their sailing 
ships and how little they were able to withstand the 
might and fury of the ocean. 

Yet in spite of these drawbacks the cape was finally 
rounded, and the first to do it was a Portuguese navigator 
named Diaz, in the year 1487. His sailors refused to go 
farther up the coast, so he had to return to Lisbon. 
When he arrived there and told of his voyage, the king 
of Portugal felt that there was now good reason to hope 
that a way to India would soon be found, and so he said 
the southern point of Africa should be called the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

But although Diaz had succeeded in getting around 
the southernmost point of Africa, the eastern route by 
sea to India had not yet been found. That discovery 
was left for another Portuguese mariner, named Vasco da 
Gama. And before Vasco da Gama made that discovery 
a far greater man than he had made a more wonderful 
one. This man was Christopher Columbus. 

Section 38. Columbus and the Discovery of America 

Life of Columbus before his voyage. We know very 
little about the early life of Columbus. We are not even 
certain when or where he was born. But from all that 
can be learned it seems most probable that he was born 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 213 

in the town of Genoa about the year 1445. In a letter 
to the king and queen of Spain he says that he went to 
sea when he was only fourteen, and that from that time 
on he continued to live a seafaring life. When he was 
not at sea he was busy making maps and globes. 

He loved to talk with mariners of every nation — 
Spanish, English, Portuguese, and the rest — about their 
voyages; and what they told him, and what he read, 
made him believe that the earth must be round, and 
that he could therefore reach Japan and the Indies by 
sailing west as well as by sailing east. 

Burning with enthusiasm for this great project, he 
tried to interest the king of Portugal in it, for the Portu- 
guese were great explorers in those days. But they were 
so busy with expeditions along the coast of Africa that 
they could spare neither men nor money for a venture 
so visionary as that of Columbus seemed. After many 
anxious years spent in trying to persuade the king of 
Portugal, he went into Spain to try his fortune with 
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 

According to a description given of Columbus at this 
time, he must have been a very striking figure. He was 
tall, with a powerful frame and dignified presence. His 
complexion was fair with a ruddy tinge, his eyes a bright 
gray-blue, and his hair thick and wavy and already turn- 
ing gray. His manners were courteous and gentle and 
his conversation delightful. 



214 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

He had little success, at his first meeting with the king 
and queen of Spain, in persuading them that the earth 
was a sphere and that there could be no doubt of reach- 
ing India by sailing west. Many people even thought 
him a little crazy from long brooding over the matter. 
One of the learned men of Spain who heard him talk, 
said that if the earth were really round they would have 
to sail up a kind of mountain from Spain. This you could 
not do, he said, even with the fairest wind, and you could 
never get back. 

For eight years Columbus talked and planned and 
waited and hoped, trying all the time to convince the 
Spanish court of the truth of his belief. At last, although 
the king was not convinced. Queen Isabella was, and 
so thoroughly that she declared she would sell her own 
jewels to help Columbus get money and ships for the 
voyage, if it could not be done in any other way. So the 
ships were found. But it was no easy matter, even then, 
to find sailors who were willing to undertake a voyage 
on the great " sea of darkness," as the Atlantic Ocean 
was then called — a sea that, so far as any one knew, 
no man had ever crossed. 

Columbus's first voyage. On the third of August, 1492, 
Columbus finally set sail. He made his way first over 
the well-known route to the Canary Islands, but from 
there sailed out into unknown seas. For a month the 
little vessels struggled through the ocean waves. The 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 



215 



anxious, frightened sailors often became discouraged 
and mutinous, and once threatened to cast Cokmibus 
into the sea and return to Spain ; but he always suc- 
ceeded in subduing them, and persisted on his voyage, 
until at last, on the twelfth of October, in the same 
year, he sighted the longed- 
for land. With thanksgiv- 
ing and rejoicing he went 
ashore and took posses- 
sion of it in the name 
of Spain, and supposing 
that it and the other green 
and flowery islands he dis- 
covered were a part of 
India, he called the natives 
whom he found there In- 
diajis. We suspect the 
island on which he first 
landed to have been San 
Salvador, one of the Ba- Departure of Columbus 

hama Islands, southeast of the United States. Later he 
discovered the islands of Cuba and Haiti. 

On his return from this voyage Columbus was re- 
ceived by Ferdinand and Isabella with the greatest in- 
terest and favor, and all that he had to tell was eagerly 
listened to. Every one was impatient to hear and see 
the great explorer and much was done in his honor. 




2i6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Plans were immediately made for another expedition. 
There was no trouble in raising funds and securing 
sailors this time, for all were anxious to take part in an 
adventure that they thought would bring them untold 
riches. 

Other voyages of Columbus. Columbus made three other 
voyages after his first one, exploring the coast of South 
America as far as the Orinoco River, but he failed to 
find any stores of gold and silver with which to enrich 
the Spanish sovereigns. They lost all interest in him, 
therefore, and so forgot and neglected him that toward 
the end of his life he wrote them this sad letter: 

" I was twenty-eight when I came into your High- 
nesses' service and now I have not a hair upon me that 
is not gray. Such is my fate that the twenty years of 
service through which I have passed with so much toil 
and danger have profited me nothing, and at this very 
day I do not possess a roof in Spain that I can call my 
own. If I wish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go but 
to the inn or tavern, and must sometimes lack where- 
with to pay the bill." 

Columbus's death, too, was at first unnoticed and un- 
mourned by the Spanish. Yet so fast did the fame of 
his achievement grow that King Ferdinand himself was 
forced to erect a monument to him, while we of to-day 
reckon him among the heroes of the world, and espe- 
cially of our own country. 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 217 

We may be led to think, when we read how hard it was 
for Columbus to convince the king and queen of Spain 
that the earth was round, that this was the first time such 
a thing had been thought of. But this would be a mis- 
take. Wise men among the Greeks and Romans knew 
that the earth could not be the flat surface that it seemed 
to be. All through the Middle Ages it was known to edu- 
cated persons that the earth was a sphere, but Columbus 
was the first to make practical use of this knowledge by 
trying to find a western route to India. 

As we know, he did not succeed in reaching India or 
the Spice Islands, as he had set out to do ; but the thing 
that he accomplished, the discovery of a new continent, 
was vastly more important and led to wonderful results in 
the next two centuries. Other discoveries immediately 
followed his, and for the next two hundred years mariners 
of Portugal, Spain, and Italy, of England, France, and 
Holland, found plenty of adventure in exploring the 
New World to which Columbus had led the way. 

Section 39. How John Cabot sailed from England 
TO North America 

English discovery of Labrador. England, also, had a 
share in some of the earliest discoveries. Down in the 
southwestern corner of the realm was the flourishing sea- 
port town of Bristol. Many a bold and venturesome sea 
captain had his home there and made it the starting place 



2i8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



for his voyages. Of all those who set sail from its harbor 
none was so daring a mariner as one who had come there 
from Venice and settled in the town with his sons. John 
Cabot was his name, a wonderfully clever and enterprising 

man from all accounts. 
One writer of the time 
says that although Bristol 
was the starting point for 
all English voyages of 
discovery, and its people 
knew all that was going 
on in the way of adven- 
tures in other countries 
and were themselves al- 
ways sending out vessels 
to explore far-away waters, 
yet the moving spirit, the 
man who encouraged them 
all, was the Venetian, 
John Cabot. 

When Cabot had made 
his plans, he carried his 
maps up to London and succeeded in convincing the 
king that beyond the sea lay other lands which might be 
secured for the honor and glory of England. So the king 
gave him money and permission to sail to all places, lands, 
and seas, of east, west, and north, and to take possession 




A Venetian Galley 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 219 

of all the heathen lands he might discover; and in the 
king's accounts for the year 1497 we find that Cabot was 
paid about a hundred dollars for discovering what was 
called the " new Isle." 

This " new Isle " was probably a point on the coast of 
Labrador, but Cabot and the rest of the world had no 
doubt that it was a part of India. Cabot described the 
land as fertile, and the seas as being so full of fish that 
they could be gathered up in baskets. The king was 
delighted and promised to give him ships for a voyage to 
Japan, which Cabot believed to be farther along the coast, 
and to provide him also with a number of criminals to 
take over as colonists to the new country. 

Cabot's second voyage also failed to discover Japan, and 
though both voyages had the far more important result 
of adding a large part of North America to the British 
possessions, it was at the time a national disappointment 
that a short way to the spices and treasures of India and 
Japan had not been discovered by England. 

Why people of the Middle Ages valued spices. It is some- 
what puzzling to us of this day that the people of the Mid- 
dle Ages valued spices so very highly and paid such high 
prices to secure them. But we do know that they were 
used universally. Old manor houses often had, among the 
buildings on the estate, one that was called the spicery. 
Here, probably, meats were spiced, just as old farmhouses 
in our country used to have " smokehouses " in which 



220 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

meat was cured for the year's use. The spicing of meats 
helped to preserve them, a thing much to be desired in 
an age when people had not learned how to store away 
ice for keeping food in warm weather; and the spicing 
helped also to disguise the taste of meat that had lost its 
freshness. Spices served, too, as stimulants in a time 
when there was no tea, coffee, or tobacco to serve that 
purpose. The chief relic we have to-day of their spicy 
mixtures is our mince pie, which is quite in the style 
of the cooking of those times. 

Section 40. Vasco da Gama 

Vasco da Gama searches for a sea route to India. Vasco 
da Gama, of whom mention has been made earlier in this 
chapter, was a Portuguese gentleman of noble family. He 
had proved himself a brave soldier during a war between 
Portugal and Spain, and a daring sailor in some voyages 
that he had made along the African coast. When the 
king of Portugal looked about for some one to take charge 
of a new expedition in search of the eastern passage to 
India, he decided that there was no one better fitted than 
this nobleman. Accordingly, in July of the year 1497, five 
years after Columbus's first voyage, Vasco da Gama set 
sail from Portugal with four stout ships, well manned with 
sailors and ofiicers, well stocked with provisions for the long 
voyage, and having on board as pilots men who had made 
the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope with Diaz. 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 221 

The ships sailed down the coast of Africa, past the 
Cape Verde Islands, across the great Gulf of Guinea, and 
on southward and east, until at last they sighted the 
mountain peaks of the Cape of Good Hope, which seemed 
to the sailors to touch the skies. So great was their relief 
when they rounded the cape, that they felt they were then 
well on their way to India, notwithstanding the fact that 
the rest of the way was quite unknown to them. 

They landed in several places as they made the long 
voyage up the eastern coast of Africa, and at one of them, 
Melinde, just north of Zanzibar, they were most kindly 
treated. The king of the country sent out to their ships 
gifts of cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper, and invited 
them to an interview. He received them in extraordinary 
state, dressed in damask and green satin, seated on two 
bronze chairs, and sheltered by a crimson umbrella. 
When they told him who they were and that they were 
seeking to reach India by sea, he assured them that such 
a thing was quite possible, as he himself traded with the 
East Indian merchants. He even provided them with a 
good pilot to show them the way across the ocean. So 
Da Gama and his Portuguese ships, with the good pilot 
on board, set sail across the Indian Ocean, and before 
many weeks landed in Calicut, on the longed-for shores 
of India. 

Da Gama himself went on shore to have a meeting with 
the king of the country, taking with him presents of cloth, 



222 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

coral, sugar, oil, and honey. The king's officer refused to 
let them be shown to the king, and laughed at them, say- 
ing that the poorest merchant in India would have given 
more valuable gifts. Nothing but gold was a fitting pres- 
ent for the king, he declared. Upon this Da Gama grew 
sad ; he said that he had brought no gold and that these 
gifts were not from the king of Portugal but from himself. 
The officer still refused him permission to bestow them, 
but allowed him an interview with the Indian king. 

At this interview Da Gama asked that friendly trade 
might be established between India and Portugal. The 
king asked what sort of merchandise the Portuguese had 
brought with them to trade in. Da Gama said corn, cloth, 
iron, and bronze, and that they had not brought very 
much, as they were on a voyage of discovery. Their 
country of Portugal, however, he said, was a very rich 
one. The king seemed satisfied and allowed Da Gama 
to load his ships with spices and Indian goods in return 
for the merchandise he had brought. 

This friendly relation came to an end almost immedi- 
ately, however. The merchants of the country, who had 
for years been sending spices and silks to the Mediterra- 
nean Sea and selling them to Venetian and Genoese 
traders, were afraid that the Portuguese traders, if they 
established themselves in India, would take away all their 
business. They were so successful in persuading their 
king of this danger that he had Da Gama seized and 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 223 

imprisoned, and it was with difficulty that the Portuguese 
captain at last escaped to his ships. 

After some further exploring of the coast the Portu- 
guese set sail on the homeward voyage across the Indian 
Ocean, toward Africa. They stopped again at Melinde, 
where they were hospitably treated as before, and then, 
after a long hard voyage around the cape, anchored once 
more in the harbor of Lisbon in September, 1499. 

Results of Vasco da Gama's discovery. The king of 
Portugal was delighted with the results of the expedition. 
He wrote of it as follows to Ferdinand and Isabella of 
Spain, whose daughter he had married : 

" Your Highnesses already know that we had ordered 
Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of our household, with four 
vessels, to make discoveries by sea ; and as the principal 
motive of this enterprise has been the service of God, 
our Lord, and our own advantage, it pleased him in his 
mercy to speed them on their route. They did search 
and discover India. They entered and navigated the seas, 
finding large cities, large edifices, and rivers, and great 
populations, among whom is carried on all the trade in 
spices and precious stones. Da Gama and his men have 
brought back a quantity of these, including cinnamon, 
cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper, as well as other 
kinds of spices, together with the boughs and leaves of 
the same ; also many fine gems of all sorts, such as 
rubies and others." 



224 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Portuguese trading stations were established in India, 
in spite of the opposition of the Indian merchants, and 
before long a thriving trade grew up, for Portuguese 
merchants could now supply Europe wdth spices much 
more easily and cheaply than the Genoese and Venetians 
had done. These Eastern goods, in earlier days, had to 
be taken over a long and difficult route before they could 
reach European markets. By this route the spices were 
first brought from the Spice Islands of the Indian 
Archipelago to Calicut. From there they were taken to 
Jidda, a seaport on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. 
There small vessels took them up through the Red Sea 
to a town on the eastern coast of Egypt. From there 
they were carried on the backs of camels to Cairo, a ten 
days' journey. At Cairo they were embarked on the river 
Nile, and after a journey of two days by boat and one 
day on camel's back, they reached Alexandria, on the 
Mediterranean Sea. To this city came Venetian and 
Genoese galleys, on which the bales of spices were taken 
to the chief cities of Italy, France, Germany, England, 
and Portugal. Now, after Vasco da Gama's voyage of dis- 
covery, the Portuguese vessels could carry the merchan- 
dise by one trip straight from India to Portugal, and from 
there to the rest of Europe. Portugal grew wealthy and im- 
portant with this great increase of trade. On the other 
hand, the commerce of Venice and Genoa, the great 
trading cities of Italy, was now entirely ruined. 



THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERIES 225 

Questions. 1. About how far is it from Venice to Peking, China ? 
2. Can one go by rail now from Venice to Peking ? 3. Do you judge 
that Marco Polo probably exaggerated somewhat the wonders he had 
seen ? 4. What reasons can you give for thinking that the earth is a 
globe ? 5. How far had Columbus to sail from Spain to the West Indies ? 
6. How far is it from Bristol to Labrador ? 7. How far from Cuba to 
Japan ? 8, How long does it now take a fast steamer to go from New 
York to Liverpool ? 9. How large is Portugal compared with England ? 
10. How far is it from Lisbon to the Cape of Good Hope ? 11. Which 
seems to you the more daring explorer, Diaz or Vasco da Gama? 

References. Old South Leaflets, Vol. II, No. 32 (Marco Polo's 
account of Japan and Java) ; No. 29 (the discovery of America) ; No. 30 
(Strabo's introduction to geography) ; No. t^^ (letter of Columbus) ; 
No. 37 (voyage of the Cabots) ; Vol. HI, No. 71 (Columbus's letter 
to Ferdinand and Isabella); Vol. V, No. 102 (Columbus's account of 
Cuba) ; p. 301 (Cabot's discovery of America). Lawler. The Story of 
Columbus and Magellan, p. 14. Bates and Coman. English History 
Told by English Poets, p. 235 (The First Voyage of the Cabots). 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 

Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan's voyage along the coast of South America. 

Strait of Magellan. Hardships in crossing the Pacific Ocean. Magellan's death 

in the Philippines. The Moluccas. Return of the Victoria 

Section 41. How Magellan sailed around South 
America to the Pacific Ocean 

The Spice Islands. Between Asia and Australia lies 
a vast multitude of islands, great and small, called the 
Malay Archipelago. Among these is a little group known 
as the Moluccas. These are the famous Spice Islands, 
toward which every bold sailor in the age of discovery 
had been directing his eyes. After Da Gama had reached 
India by going around Africa, other Portuguese mariners 
pressed further east, and some of them finally reached 
the Spice Islands, where the especially rare nutmeg and 
cloves grew. 

Charles V of Spain helps Magellan. Another Portuguese, 

Ferdinand Magellan, now formed the plan of sailing 

westward, around South America, in order to reach the 

Moluccas. The glory of his adventure fell, however, to 

Spain instead of to Portugal. Magellan, offended by a 

failure on the part of the Portuguese monarch to reward 

226 



THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 



227 



him for certain services he had performed, turned to the 
Spanish ruler, Emperor Charles V. Charles, the young 
grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, received Magellan 
cordially and lost no time in helping him to get ready 
for what proved to be the most remarkable voyage of 
discovery ever made — the ^^ — 

first voyage around the 
world. 

Magellan's fleet. We 
are fortunate enough to 
have an account of the 
fleet with which Magellan 
set sail. This is in a letter 
that an ambassador who 
was sent to Spain by the 
king of Portugal to try 
to persuade Magellan to 
return to his own country, 
wrote back to the king. Of 
the five ships that made up the fleet, the best was no 
larger than a fishing vessel, and was very old. " I assure 
your Highness," the Portuguese ambassador wrote, " I 
should not care to sail in them even to the Canary Islands." 

For trade with the natives of the various lands that 
they might find, Magellan took copper, quicksilver, colored 
cloth and silk, silk jackets, bells, knives, and looking- 
glasses. He planned to sail straight across to Brazil, 




Ferdinand Magellan 



228 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

south along the coast of South America, and then north 
and west to the Moluccas. 

The best account of the great voyage is one written 
by Pigafetta, an Italian gentleman who sailed with Ma- 
gellan, and who had many curious things to tell. 

On the twentieth of September, 15 19, Magellan and his 
company went to the church in Seville and offered prayer 
that they might have a safe and prosperous voyage. Then 
they boarded their little fleet, dropped down the river, 
and sailed out into the wide Atlantic, making their way 
first to the <^anary Islands and from there to the coast 
of South America. 

Magellan's ship led the way and gave the necessary 
signals to the other vessels — by day with flags and by 
night with burning fagots or lanterns. He used the 
utmost care to keep the ships together. One officer, 
however, found fault with his leadership and tried to raise 
a mutiny among the others, even before they reached the 
coast of Brazil. Magellan had him put in irons, but not 
before the seeds of future trouble had been sown. 

Voyage along South America. They made landings at 
various places on the coast of South America. At one 
place Pigafetta bought six hens for a playing card, the 
king of diamonds — and even then the natives thought 
they had got the best of him ; and any amount of pro- 
visions could be purchased with the bells and knives that 
the explorers had taken with them. On the coast of 



THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 229 

Patagonia they found men of gigantic size, but of a gentle 
and hospitable disposition. One of them was so terrified 
at the sight of himself in a mirror that he fell backwards, 
knocking over three or four Spaniards in his fall. 

It was at this place, where they stayed several months, 
that further mutiny broke out. The rebellious captains 




The Strait of Magellan 

(From a photograph by Mr. Charles W. Furlong) 

swore to take Magellan back to Spain, declaring that he 
was leading them all to destruction. Magellan was forced 
to take severe measures. Surprising the ringleaders, he 
had some of them hanged, while others he left behind 
on the shores of Patagonia. In spite of these terrible ex- 
amples of punishment one ship deserted later on and went 
back to Spain, for the men were disgusted with the cold, 
the scant food, and the prospect of an endless voyage. 



230 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

At last, on the twenty-first of October, 1520, — by 
some miracle, wrote Pigafetta, — they came upon the 
entrance to a wide and deep strait, on both sides of which 
were lofty snow-capped mountains. The sailors hesitated 
long before entering it, fearing lest there be no way out 
at the other end, but Magellan persisted in his order to 
proceed. Two ships were sent ahead to explore. For two 
days they were absent and everybody thought them lost. 
When finally they returned to tell of the open sea beyond 
the strait Magellan wept for joy. He now felt sure that 
the rest of the way to the Spice Islands would be 
plain sailing.^ 

Section 42. How Magellan's Fleet crossed the 
Pacific Ocean 

For almost four months Magellan and his company 
sailed over an ocean so smooth and calm that they called 
it the Pacific. Day after day and week after week passed 
without their seeing any land other than two uninhabited 
coral islands, and without their being able to obtain either 
provisions or water. The only food they had, toward the 
last, was old sea biscuit, full of worms, and the only water 
left was foul and yellow. They were finally reduced to 
eating some oxhides that were on board, soaking them in 
water to soften them. They even ate sawdust, and rats, 
which were so scarce that the men were willing to pay 

1 The strait he discovered still bears his name. 



THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 231 

high for them. Many sailors fell ill of scurvy and nine- 
teen died of it. Pigafetta, telling of all these hardships, 
says further, " I think that never man will undertake 
again to perform such a voyage." 

At last they came in sight of inhabited islands, which 
Magellan named Ladrones, a Spanish word meaning 
" thieves," because the natives, w^ien they boarded the 
ships, carried off all they could lay their hands on. The 
Spanish, however, obtained fresh fruit and other food 
from them, and went on their way much cheered. 

Magellan's death in the Philippines. At last they reached 
the Philippine Islands and, landing on one of them, took 
possession of the whole group in the name of Charles V.^ 
The natives here were very hospitable to these the first 
Europeans they had ever seen, giving them oranges, 
bananas, coconuts, and other provisions. 

Magellan finally landed (1521) at Cebu, where he made 
a treaty with the native ruler and tried to persuade him 
and his subjects to become Christians. This they seemed 
very willing to do and the king and queen of the country, 
as well as many others, were accordingly baptized. Magel- 
lan told them that they must burn all the wooden images 
which they had used as idols. They were so obedient and 

1 They were named the PhiHppine Islands in honor of Charles's son, 
Philip 11. The city of Manila, on the island of Luzon, was made the capital 
of the entire archipelago. The Spaniards extended Christianity and civilization 
throughout the greater part of the islands, which continued to belong to Spain 
until they were purchased by the United States at the close of the Spanish- 
American War in i8q8. 



232 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

yielding in every respect that the captain was dehghted with 
them, and went so far as to promise to aid the king of the 
island in any trouble that might arise with his neighbors. 

It was not long before the king asked for help against 
a chief in the neighboring island of Mactan who had 
rebelled against him. The Spaniards tried to induce 
Magellan to give up the idea of fighting, but he was 
determined to help the new convert to Christianity, and 
even insisted upon taking the most dangerous position in 
the battle. It was thus that he lost his life. The enemy 
picked him out as their target, and he fell, covered with 
wounds from their arrows and spears, dying just when his 
courage and persistence had brought him through the 
most difficult and dangerous part of his journey, and when 
the longed-for Spice Islands were almost within reach. 

Pigafetta told of the sorrow of the Spaniards over 
their commander's death, for which they could hardly be 
consoled, and of his hope that the memory of Magellan 
would never be allowed to die. 

The Spice Islands and the return to Spain. The Spaniards 
made every effort to regain Magellan's body, but the 
natives would not give it up, so the bones of the great 
navigator were left on the little Pacific island where he 
met his death. Another officer was elected to take com- 
mand of the fleet, and the ships sailed away to follow their 
course to the Moluccas. They passed the great island of 
Borneo, as well as other smaller ones, and at last came in 



THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD 



^?>?> 



sight of the Spice Islands, where the company gave thanks 
to God and discharged all their artillery for joy over their 
arrival. They landed on one of the islands and found the 
king and people hospitably inclined. Treaties were made 




Magellan's Ship the Victoria 

and the natives gave great quantities of spices to the 
Spanish to take as gifts to their emperor, Charles V. 
When they were ready to sail for home it was found 
that of the two ships that were still left from the fleet of 
five that had started from Spain more than two years 
before, only one was fit to make the voyage. This was 



234 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the Victoria. She set sail in December, across the Indian 
Ocean, for the Cape of Good Hope, — "that terrible 
cape," as it was called, — and having successfully rounded 
it, she came at last to the harbor at Seville and cast anchor 
there on the eighth of September, 1522, three years from 
the time when the fleet had set forth. The next day the 
Spanish sailors, barefoot and with tapers in their hands, 
went to visit the shrine of Santa Maria de la Victoria and 
give thanks for their safe return ; and upon the captain of 
the ship Victoria especial honors were bestowed by the 
emperor for having accomplished the marvelous feat of 
sailing around the world. 

Questions. 1. What reasons had Charles V for taking a great interest 
in Magellan's plans ? 2. How far south did Magellan have to go from the 
eastern point of Brazil to reach the strait which was named after him ? 
3. Is it farther from Seville to the easternmost point of Brazil than it is 
from there to the Strait of Magellan ? 4. How far is it around the earth 
at the equator ? 5. Where are savages found to-day like those Magellan 
saw in South America ? 

Reference. Lawler. The Story of Columbus and Magellan, p. 94. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE NEW WORLD 

Hernando Cortes. His march to the City of Mexico. The civilization of the 

Aztecs. The death of Montezuma and the capture of the city of Mexico. 

Amerigo Vespucci. The naming of America. De Soto's discovery of the 

Mississippi River. Jacques Cartier. Spanish missions 

Section 43. Conquest of Mexico 

Spain and Portugal, rivals. The little country of Portugal 
was for a time the leader in exploring the globe, owing to 
the enthusiasm of Henry the Navigator and the successes 
of Diaz and Vasco da Gama. But Spain became her rival 
when Columbus began to make his voyages to America, 
and it was from a Spanish port that Magellan started on 
the long voyage around the world. Spain showed much 
energy, too, in taking possession of the regions which her 
mariners discovered. She sent out colonists and soldiers 
and missionaries to form settlements and to make further 
discoveries. Above all, she dreamed of finding great 
stores of gold and silver which might be sent home and 
so make her richer than any other European country. 

Hernando Cortes. Of all the Spaniards that went to the 
New World none met with more thrilling adventures, saw 
more wonderful sights, or made greater conquests than 

235 



236 - INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Hernando Cortes. Many of his experiences are told in 
the long messages which he sent back to the emperor 
Charles V. Much is also told in the diary of a soldier in 
his army, named Bernal Diaz, who wrote down an account 
of what he saw and did on his campaign with Cortes. 

Hernando Cortes was at this time (about 15 19) a gay 
and spirited young nobleman, handsome, graceful, and 
affable. He had early tired of his own country, and when 
he was but nineteen had left it to go out to the Spanish 
settlement in the West Indies in search of wealth and ad- 
venture. While he was acting as assistant to the Spanish 
governor in the island of Cuba, news was brought of the 
discovery of a great country to the west. Gold had been 
found in it and Indians, called Aztecs, who knew how to 
build houses of stone and mortar, to weave cloth, and to 
make ornaments of gold and silver. This country was 
Mexico, and the news of it so aroused the interest of 
the governor of Cuba that he at once dispatched Cortes 
with ships and soldiers to take possession of it. This 
was just the sort of adventure that Cortes had been 
looking for. With a small army of about six hundred 
men, a few horses, and some cannon and ammunition, 
he set sail from Cuba in the year 15 19 (the same year 
in which Magellan started upon his voyage), and in due 
time reached the coast of Mexico. 

Cortes in Mexico. As soon as he landed he was visited 
by envoys from Montezuma, the most powerful ruler 




Emperor Charles V 

(From a painting by Titian) 



237 



238 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

among the Aztecs, who sent to inquire why these for- 
eigners had appeared in his country. With the envoys 
came painters, who made pictures of the Spaniards and 
their doings to carry back to the king. Most surprising 
to the Aztecs were the horses and cannon, the hke of 
which had never before been seen in their land. 

Cortes announced to them through his interpreter, a 
beautiful and clever Mexican woman who had become 
deeply attached to him, that he had come as an ambassa- 
dor from the Spanish emperor to visit their king. The 
Mexicans replied that no permission could be granted him 
to see Montezuma. Cortes said that he would not leave 
the country until he had had an interview with him ; but 
still the answer was the same — no foreigner could be 
allowed to approach the great Aztec ruler of Mexico. 

Then Cortes made a momentous decision. Small as his 
following was and great as was the power of Montezuma, 
he resolved not to turn back until he had seen the king 
in his own capital and established himself in the country. 
He took possession, in the name of Charles V, of the strip 
of coast where he was encamped, and to make certain that 
there should be no retreating from his decision, he had 
all his ships destroyed. Then he set out for the capital. 

This march to the City of Mexico led him through 
many towns and villages. Some of the people were hos- 
tile to Montezuma and welcomed Cortes gladly, hoping 
that he might free them from their enemy. Others were 



THE NEW WORLD 239 

so loyal to the king that, although they also met Cortes 
with an appearance of hospitality and gave fair promises 
of helping him, they made every effort to destroy the 
Spanish army. When Cortes discovered the plans of 
these latter he spared none that he could reach, slaying 
many and burning some alive. 

Making his way thus through the country, Cortes and 
his army came at last within sight of the City of Mexico, 
built partly on an island and partly over the waters of 
the lake. The soldier Diaz says in his diary that when 
they saw all the towers and temples, made of solid 
masonry, yet rising from the water and reflected in it 
like enchanted castles, they looked at one another in 
amazement, asking if these things that they saw were 
not a dream rather than reality. Everywhere were flow- 
ering gardens and blooming terraces, and even floating 
rose gardens ; and in the distance, encircling the city 
and its surrounding villages and the wide green plains 
in which they were set, was range after range of misty 
blue mountains. 

Montezuma and the Aztecs. As Cortes and his army, 
with their prancing horses, drew nearer to the city, Mon- 
tezuma himself, splendidly adorned with gold and jewels, 
came out with a magnificent procession to meet them, 
along the wide causeway that led over the waters of the 
lake. The two leaders saluted one another with much 
ceremony, and Cortes was presented with a rich necklace 



240 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



by the king and gave him one in return. Then all, both 
Mexicans and Spaniards, returned over the causeway 
into the city, where quarters were assigned the Spaniards 
in one of the king's palaces. 

Here the invaders were nobly entertained by Monte- 
zuma and taken to see the sights of the Aztec capital. 




^^".«!f^^ 



Temple Pyramid in Mexico 



The vast market place aroused their wonder. It was 
larger than any they had ever seen, and displayed the 
greatest variety of merchandise. There were food and 
clothing of many kinds, wines, medicines, and perfumes, 
chairs, tables, and beds, fine pottery, beautifully wrought 
ornaments of gold and silver, and designs of bright- 
colored feathers woven so skillfully that they looked like 



THE NEW WORLD 241 

paintings. There were painters' materials, and even 
paper. These were used for making pictures, for the 
Aztecs' writing was still in the stage called hieroglyphic ; 
that is, they had no alphabet, but expressed themselves 
by means of pictures. 

In every interview between the two leaders Montezuma 
displayed dignity and graciousness. Even when Cortes 
took his final daring step and demanded that the mon- 
arch should surrender himself because his subjects had 
slain some Spaniards, the courteous demeanor of the 
Aztec king was unchanged. When he recovered from 
his amazement he replied : " I am not one of those 
persons who are put in prison. Even if I were to 
consent, my subjects would never permit it." 

But such were the audacity and decision of Cortes 
that Montezuma was forced to yield and was taken to the 
Spanish quarters. His arrest terrified his subjects beyond 
words. It was weeks before the idea of resistance occurred 
to them. When at last they became rebellious against 
their new masters, Montezuma himself attempted to pacify 
them, and in one of the struggles between the Spaniards 
and the Aztecs he received his death wound. The gentle 
monarch had made such an impression even upon his 
captors that when he died they were sincerely sorry ; " and 
no wonder," wrote Diaz, '' seeing that he was so good." 

Capture and rebuilding of the City of Mexico. His 
death inspired the Aztecs with such fury against the 



242 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Spaniards that Cortes was forced to retreat from the 
city. He then made an aUiance with a tribe hostile to 
the City of Mexico and laid siege to the town, determined 
to fight out the war to the finish. In this long struggle, 
in which the Spanish were finally victorious, the Aztecs 
fought with desperate and unfailing courage, but their 
fair temples, palaces, and courts were all brought to utter 
ruin and the whole place was laid waste, while the loss of 
both Spanish and Aztec soldiers was past reckoning. 

Cortes now gave all his attention to the rebuilding of 
the city, and to filling it with his own men and with 
those who had been his allies during the war. At the 
same time he allowed the conquered people to hold their 
old positions as far as possible and treated them with 
great consideration. He set up chapels in order that the 
Christian religion might be established in the country, 
and before long a new town had arisen, though it was far 
from approaching in beauty the old Aztec city of Monte- 
zuma. The whole country was finally conquered in the 
name of Charles V, and remained a rich and valuable 
possession of Spain for three centuries. 

Section 44. The Progress of Discovery 

Amerigo Vespucci and the naming of America. Among 
the many other explorers and discoverers who set forth 
in those wonderful days of adventure to follow their for- 
tunes in the western seas was one Amerigo Vespucci. 



THE NEW WORLD 243 

According to his own account he made a voyage to the 
coast of South America in 1497, and if what he writes is 
true, he was the explorer by whom the South American 
coast was first discovered.^ 

Afterwards he had a share in conducting a second 
voyage. He wrote out an account of these two voyages 
and of two others that he claimed to have made later, 
and in time this narrative was printed. In the book in 
which it appeared the printer made the suggestion that 
the part of the world which Amerigo Vespucci said he 
had discovered should take its name from him and be 
called Amerigo, or America \ and, following his own 
suggestion, he printed the word " America " in large 
letters on the margin of the book. This is the first 
appearance, so far as we know, of the name " America." 
The use of the expression " New World " to describe 
the American continent appears about this time also. 

Ferdinand de Soto. Twenty years after Cortes conquered 
Mexico, another explorer, Ferdinand de Soto, aroused 
great interest in Europe by his adventures in the New 
World. De Soto set forth with his company to explore 
and conquer Florida, and to find the gold that it was 
believed lay in store there. 

He found no gold. His great discovery was that of the 
Mississippi River, in 1542, after almost three years of toil 

^ Historians in general believe that it was Columbus who first touched upon 
the shores of South America, in 1498. 



244 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



and hardship in the wilderness ; and on its banks, shortly 
afterwards, he died, worn out by his long journey. His 
body was secretly buried at midnight in the waters of 
the great river, lest the Indians, who had been told 

that the Spaniards were 
immortal, should discover 
how they had been de- 
ceived. 

Cartier claims Canada 
for France. A short time 
before De Soto discovered 
the Mississippi River a 
French explorer, Jacques 
Cartier, sent out by Francis 
I, king of France, made 
the voyage over to Amer- 
ica. He sailed up the St. 
Lawrence River and spent 
a winter in the place where 
the city of Quebec now 
stands. Later he tried to 
settle a colony there, but 
it was a failure. He claimed that part of North America 
for France, however, and French colonies were settled 
there before many years. 

** Spanish America *' and its missions. Year after year 
adventurers came over from Spain and pushed their 




A Spanish Galleon 



THE NEW WORLD 



245 



discoveries in every direction. In time "Spanish America" 
came to include a vast extent of territory in both South 
and North America. And over the seas, year after year, 
went fleets of Spanish galleons and caravels,^ carrying 




The Mission at Santa Barbara, California 

(From a photograph by Mr. R. F. Engle) 

back to the mother country rich cargoes from her great 
American possessions. 

Whenever the Spanish took possession of a country 
in America they sent over priests and friars to build 

1 A galleon was a huge seagoing ship, with three or four decks, used by the 
Spaniards both as a man-of-war and a freight vessel. A caravel was a smaller and 
lighter freight vessel. 



246 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

missions and churches, and schools in which to teach the 
natives the CathoHc rehgion. The priests Hved in their 
missions much as the monks hved in the monasteries of 
Europe, except that they had more to do with people 



1 

mi 


'""^ ^^Williiilffiy-^^ir 



Corridor of Santa Barbara Mission 

(From a photograph by Mr. R. F. Engle) 

outside. They learned the language of the Indians, and 
taught them to read, to raise grain, to do carpenter work, 
to make shoes, and to spin and weave cloth. 

These priests were for the most part members of the 
order of St. Francis. Coming north from Mexico they 
built missions along the Pacific coast from San Diego 



THE NEW WORLD 



247 



to San Francisco. Some of these old buildings are still 
to be seen in the fertile California valleys. In the fashion 
of the Benedictine monasteries, with their long, low build- 
ings, cloistered walks, and red-tiled roofs set in the midst 
of gardens and orchards, they made a pleasant haven for 
the whole country. Some of them are in ruins now, and 
many are deserted, but there are still a few flourishing 
enough to show us what they all once were. 

Questions. 1. What object had Cortes in conquering Mexico ? 2. What 
other people besides the Aztecs used picture writing or hieroglyphics ? 
3. What lands does Spain possess in America to-day ? 

References. Robinson. Readings in European History, Vol. H, pp. 
24-27 (Spain at the opening of the sixteenth century). Old South Leaf- 
lets, Vol. H, No. 34 (Amerigo Vespucci's account of his first voyage); 
No. 35 (Cortes' description of the City of Mexico) ; No. 36 (death of 
De Soto). 



CHAPTER XVIII 

QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 

Queen Elizabeth. Henry VIII. Appearance, character, and accomplishments 
of Queen Elizabeth. Sir William Cecil. Elizabeth declared head of the Church 
in England. The Protestant religion established. Elizabeth's economy. Her 
love of peace. Philip II of Spain. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and her claim 
to the English throne. Discovery of plots against Elizabeth's life, and the 
execution of Mary Stuart 

In 1558 Elizabeth, one of the greatest queens of history, 
ascended the throne of England. Although she became 
queen when she was only twenty-five, she had many diffi- 
cult questions of government to settle. Chief among these 
vv^ere matters of religion. Before we go on to these ques- 
tions we will consider for a little the reign of Elizabeth's 
father, the famous King Henry VIII, for he had much 
to do with the changes that took place in England in 
religious matters at this time. 

Section 45. Henrv VIII 

Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. In Chap- 
ter XIII we spoke of the great power of the Pope and 
of the officials subject to him. Henry VIII was the first 
English king to succeed in defying him. He was a proud, 

strong-willed man, and when the Pope refused to grant 

248 



QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 



249 



his request for a divorce from the queen, he acted in 
direct disobedience to his commands, and, more than 
that, declared himself to be the head of the Church in 
England instead of the Pope. 

Having made himself head of the English Church, 
Henry VHI took another step and closed the monas- 
teries. He was an extravagant, pleasure-loving king 




The Ruins of Melrose Abbey 

and was often in need of money for his pleasures. The 
larger monasteries were very wealthy. Their lands cov- 
ered one fifth of all England and they had stores of gold 
plate and jewels. King Henry took possession of their 
treasure to fill his own chests, and sold the lovely stained 
glass of the churches, the stone carvings, and even the 
lead from the roofs. The bells were melted and made 
into cannon, and the shrines of the saints stripped of 
their gold and silver. 



250 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



The Protestant revolt. The hostility of Henry VIII 
to some of the customs and privileges of the Catholic 
Church, which he showed by breaking off all connection 
with the Pope, by making himself head of the Church in 
England, and by closing the monasteries, was a feeling 
shared by many people of his time. In Germany a revolt 
against the Roman Catholic religion had been spreading 
rapidly. This revolt was led by a German monk named 
Martin Luther. Great numbers of German people joined 
him and left the Roman Catholic Church, to which, as we 
know, every one in western Europe at that time belonged. 
This revolt spread into Switzerland, Holland, and France, 
and those who joined it were called Protestants. 

Henry's daughter. Queen Mary, was an ardent Roman 
Catholic, and when she came to the throne she did her best 
to restore the power that her father had taken away from 
the Pope. She tried, too, in every possible way, to get rid of 
Protestantism and even executed many who had been con- 
verted to it. But the new religion spread among the Eng- 
lish, nevertheless, and under the rule of Queen Elizabeth 
it continued to grow, for she herself sympathized with it. 

Section 46. Queen Elizabeth 

Character, appearance, and accomplishments of Elizabeth. 

We have numberless descriptions of '^ Good Queen Bess," 
as Queen Elizabeth came to be called, and so many of 
her sayings have been handed down that we can piece 




Pope Julius II (1441-1513) 

(From a painting by Raphael) 



251 



252 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

out a very fair picture of her. She was always a person of 
high spirits, and when she was still " the Lady Elizabeth," 
a girl living a secluded life in the country, with only a 

governess and a few 
servants about her, 
she attracted no little 
attention by the ad- 
ventures into which 
her lively disposition 
led her. Later, how- 
ever, she learned to 
curb her wild spirits, 
so that from a reck- 
less girl she grew in- 
to an unusually self- 
controlled woman. 
Still her liveliness 
of disposition and 
quickness of temper 
continued to be dis- 
played often enough, 
but seldom without 
good reason and very often to good effect. 

In appearance she was tall, with an elegant figure and 
commanding air. Her hair, golden-red and waving back 
from her high forehead, was her especial pride. Her eyes 
were fine, dark, and piercing. Her hands were unusually 




Queen Elizabeth 



QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 253 

delicate and beautiful, and she took pains to call attention 
to them in every way possible — by playing with her 
rings and by frequent gestures. Her vanity displayed 
itself, also, in the countless splendid gowns with which her 
wardrobe was filled and in her constant change of dress, 
hi her vanity, her good-natured yet imperious behavior 
toward her people, and her love of popularity she was 
like her father, Henry VHI, and like him too in her love 
of learning. Her education was an excellent one. Even 
to-day she might well 
put a college graduate 
to shame by her knowl- 
edge of languages. 
Roger Ascham, one of 
the finest scholars of ^^^^^ Elizabeth's Autograph 

those times, was one of her tutors when she was a girl. 
In a letter written some time afterwards he declared that, 
although there were many wise ladies of that day, the 
brightest star among them all was his illustrious Lady 
Elizabeth. French and Italian she spoke as well as Eng- 
lish, and she often talked to him readily and well in Latin, 
and moderately so in Greek. He tells of an occasion 
when she entertained three foreign ambassadors at one 
time, addressing each in turn in a different language, 
Italian, French, and Latin, with ease and fluency. 

To help her in her great task of government Elizabeth 
selected Sir William Cecil as her prime minister and 




254 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

chief adviser. This act alone, if we knew of no other, 
would prove how keen was her judgment. Sir William 
Cecil, afterwards given the title of Lord Burleigh, was 
not a clever courtier, skilled in the flattery and repartee 
that delighted Elizabeth's heart, but he had what she 
valued far more when it came to matters of state — he had 
the mind of a statesman, wise and far-seeing. He was a 
Protestant, too, as were all the officials whom the new 
queen appointed. 

Reforms made by Elizabeth. With this body of advisers 
Elizabeth began the reforms that seemed to her most 
needed. 

The first matter to be attended to was the settlement 
of the question of religion. Every one was anxiously 
waiting to learn what the new monarch's course would 
be in this respect. So among the first measures that 
Parliament passed was one which set aside the suprem- 
acy of the Pope in England, and made Elizabeth the 
head of the English Church. A form of Protestant- 
ism was made the state religion, and every one in the 
kingdom was forced to accept it. 

The Catholics, of course, were not pleased with the 
new laws. Some Protestants, too, found fault with them. 
These latter were called " Puritans " because they wanted 
a purer form of religion, entirely free from any of the 
Catholic forms. But the majority of Elizabeth's subjects 
were satisfied with the religion she established. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 255 

Elizabeth then gave her mind to other reforms and 
changes. She had found the country sadly in debt when 
she came to the throne, and she resolved that in the future 
there should be no unnecessary spending of money. No 
one knew better than she how to be economical and 
prudent. Her rich gowns and jewels and the festivities 
of her court of course cost a great deal, but at the same 
time she showed her thrifty spirit in the ordering of her 
general household expenses. She saved much, too, by 
making visits, with all her court, to the manors and 
castles of her wealthy subjects, where she was enter- 
tained sometimes for weeks together. To further reduce 
expenses and increase the country's resources she tried 
to avoid all war and to make the most of the manufac- 
tures and trade of England. 

Elizabeth and the Catholic monarchs, Philip II and Mary- 
Queen of Scots. In avoiding war Elizabeth's success was 
remarkable. The chief enemies that she had to fear 
abroad were France and Spain. Spain was under the 
rule of Philip II, a monarch who had the deepest interest 
in spreading the Catholic religion and in checking the 
growth of Protestantism. He was greatly distressed by 
letters from his ambassador in England showing how 
seriously the cause of Catholicism was suffering under 
Elizabeth. "It gives me great trouble every time I write 
to your Majesty," wrote the ambassador, " not to be able 
to send more pleasing intelligence, but what can be 



256 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



expected from a country governed by a queen, and she a 
young lass, who, although sharp, is without prudence and 
is every day standing up against religion more openly. 
The kingdom is entirely in the hands of young folks, 
heretics, and traitors." The whole of Elizabeth's reign 

was troubled by Philip's 
efforts to restore the old 
Catholic faith in England, 
but so skillful were she 
and her ministers in their 
management of relations 
with him that only once 
did the country actually 
come to war with Spain. 
The greatest danger 
from France lay in the 
support that the French, 
who were allies of the 
Scotch, might give to 
Mary Stuart, the queen 
of Scotland. Mary Stuart, a princess of surpassing 
charm and spirit, was a cousin of Elizabeth. This rela- 
tionship gave her a claim to the English throne, and 
as she was an ardent Catholic she had many followers 
of that faith in England, as well as in Scotland and 
on the Continent, who would gladly have seen her in 
Elizabeth's place. 




Mary Queen of Scots 



QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 257 

For more than twenty-five years there hung over EHza- 
beth's head the possibility of being dethroned and even 
assassinated by the supporters of this beautiful and fas- 
cinating Queen of Scots. Even after Mary fell into 
Elizabeth's power and was held a prisoner for almost 
twenty years in one English castle after another, her 
scheming against the English queen did not cease. Plot 
after plot was uncovered during these years. In some of 
these plots even Philip II was involved. 

At last a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth and to make 
Mary Stuart queen of England was laid bare. Letters 
had been sent to and fro in regard to it and some of 
these were found to have been written by Mary herself. 
It seemed plain to Elizabeth and her advisers that she 
was guilty of high treason, and she was at last brought 
to trial by the queen's ministers and convicted of plotting 
her murder. Elizabeth hesitated long before she could 
decide to condemn her cousin to a traitor's death, but 
she finally ordered the execution. 

Queen Mary was at Fotheringay Castle when the 
black-garbed envoy from London, the bearer of the death 
warrant, brought the final decision from the English 
court ; and in the great hall at Fotheringay she mounted 
the scaffold that had been erected there and, with the 
undaunted spirit and gracious sweetness that had never 
left her, laid her head on the block amid the tears and 
despair of her faithful and devoted attendants. 



258 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Questions. 1. How were noblemen executed who were sentenced 
to death in England ? 2. Do you know what kind of criminals were 
burned and what kind hanged ? 3. Why was Elizabeth called " Good 
Queen Bess " ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 361-362 
(description of Elizabeth); pp. 378-380 (Elizabeth's accomplishments); 
pp. 408-412 (characteristics of Queen Elizabeth). Robinson. Readings 
in European History, Vol. II, pp. 186-187 (Mary Queen of Scots and 
Elizabeth); pp. 191-193 (description of Elizabeth). Bates and Coman. 
English History Told by English Poets, p. 283 (Gloriana); p. 285 (Lament 
of the Queen of Scots). 



CHAPTER XIX 

ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 

Philip II and the Netherlands. Revolt of the Netherlands. William of 

Orange. Philip II prepares the Invincible Armada. His reasons for wishing 

to make war upon England. The defeat of the Armada 

Section 47. Philip II of Spain and the Netherlands 

Queen Elizabeth was not able to preserve peace with 
her neighbors at all times, much as she wished it. In the 
latter years of her reign she was forced into a war with 
Philip II of Spain. 

Philip II of Spain. Perhaps the chief thing to be borne 
in mind, when one thinks of Philip II, is his intense 
belief in the truth of the Roman Catholic faith and his 
never-flagging zeal in supporting its cause. In some of 
the countries of his great realm the measures that he 
took to drive out Protestantism were severe and unre- 
lenting beyond words. Of all his possessions the Nether- 
lands felt most the heaviness of his hand, for it w^as 
there that the Protestants made their strongest fight 
for liberty of belief. 

Philip had inherited from his father, the famous Em- 
peror Charles V, the most extensive and the wealthiest 
dominion in Europe. It included not only Spain, the 

259 



26o INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



place of his birth and his home, but all the Spanish col- 
onies in America, as well as portions of Italy and those 
countries that we now know as Holland and Belgium. 

The last two countries 
were united in those times 
under the name of the 
Spanish Netherlands, or 
Lowlands. To help him 
in the management of this 
great realm he had the 
best-disciplined armies, as 
well as the most skillful 
commanders of his day. 
The Netherlands. The 
Netherlands are rightly 
named, for they are indeed 
low lands. Bordering on 
the German ocean, just 
across from England, this 
stretch of country lies so 
low and so level that the 
sea is ever threatening to 
sweep over portions of it. 
From earliest times the sturdy, venturesome inhabitants 
had to build dikes to keep the ocean floods from over- 
whelming their homes and fields ; and the Dutch of to- 
day still build and keep in repair these strong walls. 




Philip II 

(From a painting by Titian) 



ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 261 

At the time of which we are speaking the inhabitants 
of the Netherlands were busy, independent, energetic 
people, carrying on a variety of industries both in their 
thriving towns and in the country. In the north, the 
part that is now Holland, were the towns of Amsterdam, 
Rotterdam, Leyden, and Haarlem, where fine linen and 
tapestry were woven. On the farms quantities of butter 
and cheese were produced for the market. In the south, 
in Belgium (or Flanders, as it was then named), were the 
towns of Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent, famous 
for their rich cloth and silks. 

Revolt of the Netherlands and William of Orange. Even 
during the reign of Charles V there had been signs of re- 
volt in the Netherlands, arising from a widespread interest 
in the religion of the reformers, and thousands of heretics 
had been executed by the emperor in the hope of prevent- 
ing Protestantism from getting any hold in the country. 
When Philip came to the throne and found that the new 
religion was still alive and growing, he determined to em- 
ploy every means at his command to stamp it out forever. 

Following the practice of his father, he had notices 
posted in every city forbidding the printing, selling, 
or distributing, in any way, of books written by Martin 
Luther or other heretics. Any persons found breaking 
these laws were to suffer the severest punishment. 

When imprisonment and punishment proved useless, 
Philip sent from Spain his most able and at the same 



262 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

time most merciless general, the Duke of Alva, with 
orders to put an end, once for all, to the revolt of his 
subjects in the Netherlands. Alva's cruelty was so well 
known that many Protestants fled from the country at 
news of his coming, some to England, some to Germany. 
To Germany, among others, w^ent William, Prince of 
Orange,^ afterwards to become the great national hero 
of the Netherlands. 

William of Orange soon returned to Holland, however, 
and a little army of patriots gathered around him to re- 
sist the Spanish troops. It was defeated again and again 
in its encounters with the enemy, but a handful always 
escaped to rally round their leader and defy Alva's forces 
elsewhere. On sea, too, the rebels made constant trouble 
for Philip by capturing Spanish ships and selling them 
to England. 

For years this sort of skirmishing was kept up. Wil- 
liam the Silent sought the aid of Queen Elizabeth and 
received loans of money from her for the support of his 
followers. Later, more to vex Spain than to aid the 
Netherlands, she sent over soldiers and commanders 
to fight for the cause of the Protestants. 

One of the leaders of this expedition was that fine 
young English nobleman and poet. Sir Philip Sidney^ 
the pattern of all knightly virtues, whom Elizabeth called 
'' the jewel of her times," and who, as he lay dying on 

1 Also called William the Silent. 



ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 263 

a battlefield in Holland, handed his cup of water to a 
wounded soldier near him, saying, " Thy need is greater 
than mine." 

At last, after twenty years of desperate toil and struggle 
for the cause, William of Orange was struck down by an 
assassin, and the people whom he had so long led and 
encouraged were left to finish their battle for freedom 
without him. The ten southern provinces soon gave up 
the struggle against Philip and were received back into 
Spanish favor; but the seven northern ones, after long 
years of struggle, succeeded in gaining their liberty and 
independence, and became what is now Holland, the 
kingdom of the Dutch. 

Section 48. Philip and England 

Philip II, as has been said, did not love England or 
the English. We have seen how he had encouraged plots 
against Queen Elizabeth in favor of Mary Stuart, the 
Scottish queen. It may be imagined, then, how he felt 
when he found out that his rebellious subjects in the 
Netherlands had been aided in their revolt by the little 
island that was already so hateful to him. 

Nor was this all. His galleons and men-of-war, return- 
ing from the Spanish-American possessions loaded with 
treasure, were being constantly attacked by English sea- 
men. Sometimes these attacks only delayed his vessels ; 
sometimes, however, the ships and their crews suffered 



264 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

serious injury; and sometimes their entire cargo was 
carried off. Rich Spanish towns, too, in the New World 
had been plundered by a daring English mariner, Francis 
Drake, of whose exploits we shall hear in the next chap- 
ter. There was every possible reason in Philip's eyes 
why Spain should punish England for these acts. By 
conquering the English he could, at one and the same 
time, revenge himself for the injuries they had done 
him and carry out his desire to make England once 
more a Catholic country. 

The Spanish Armada. It was early in the year 1588 
that the English people first became aware of Philip's 
intentions toward them. It was reported throughout the 
country that the great fleet of ships, which for three 
years the Spanish king had been collecting, was now 
receiving the finishing touches and preparing to sail, 
not against the rebellious Netherlands, as every one 
had supposed, but against England itself. 

A hundred and thirty vessels made up this great fleet. 
There were warships, galleons, frigates, and transports, 
armed with cannon and manned with at least twenty- 
eight thousand sailors and soldiers. The Spaniards were 
exceedingly proud of it. They called it the Invincible 
Armada,^ and expected nothing less than that as soon 
as it should appear in the Channel every little English 
man-of-war would fall back for safety into the nearest 

1 " Armada " means a fleet of warships. 



ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 265 

harbor, the ill-trained bands of English militia would 
yield to the demands of the Spanish commanders, and 
England would be Philip's for the asking. 

The news of the approach of the great fleet roused 
no little terror among the English. Sir Francis Drake 
straightway sailed for Spain with a fleet of thirty vessels 
and devoted himself to making attacks along the coast, 
burning the supplies that the Spaniards had collected, 
and even entering the harbor at Cadiz and destroying 
some large ships there. This he called " singeing the 
Spanish king's beard." 

At home bands of yeomen were gathering under the 
various leaders and moving toward London to join the 
main army. Armed men from all the country round 
guarded the chief harbors of the south as well as possible 
against attacks from the sea. Catholic and Protestant 
lords alike forgot their religious differences and hurried 
to the aid of the queen with ships and men. So by the 
time that the Invincible Armada was ready to set forth 
from Spain, England was well prepared to defend herself, 
both by land and by sea. 

It was on a summer day in 1588 that the Spanish 
ships, formed in a crescent and moving majestically up 
the Channel with all their ensigns floating to the breeze, 
were first sighted by the anxious watchers on the look- 
out along the English coast. The news was carried by 
messengers and flashed by beacon fires over the country, 



266 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

and the fleet of ships in waiting at Plymouth at once 
prepared to sail out after the enemy. 

The English fleet was a poor thing, in the size and 
number of its ships, compared with that of the Spaniards. 
There were but eighty ships in all, and of the thirty 
vessels that formed the main body of the fleet not more 
than four were equal in size even to the smallest of the 
towering Spanish galleons. 

In two respects, however, the English fleet was over- 
whelmingly superior to the Spanish Armada. Its small 
vessels could move far more easily and rapidly than the 
clumsy Spanish ships, and its commander was supported 
by captains and seamen who could not be surpassed, 
nor even equaled, in a knowledge of sea craft and in a 
splendid reckless courage that only rose higher as danger 
increased. The first of them all in daring and skill was 
Drake, and close seconds were the sea captains Hawkins 
and Frobisher. All had sailed in unknown seas and 
faced dangers of every kind, and all now welcomed with 
joy this chance to meet the Spanish forces in open war. 

Defeat of the Invincible Armada. For more than a week 
this little fleet, under its brave commanders, followed the 
ponderous galleons, attacking and inflicting serious injury 
on them, but easily escaping when attacked itself. Many 
a great Spanish ship was sunk, or so disabled that it was 
forced to retreat to shore, and at least four thousand 
Spaniards were slain. 



ELIZABETH AND PHILIP II 267 

So sharp grew the fight and so incessant were the at- 
tacks of the Enghsh that the Armada was unable to take 
on the Spanish army waiting for it in Flanders. The 
commanders became utterly disheartened, and soon had 
but one desire left — to get back to their own country. A 
return through the Channel in the face of the enemy 
was impossible. Their only course was to sail north 
around Scotland and the Orkney Islands, then south 
past Ireland, and so on to Spain. 

Thus it was that only a little more than ten days after 
they had so exultantly entered the English Channel the 
Spaniards, in utter defeat and despair, turned their course 
northward to seek escape. A heavy gale drove them 
forward, while Drake and his ships followed in close pur- 
suit. On went the wretched, disabled vessels toward the 
Orkney Islands. Here they were overtaken by so fierce 
a tempest that many a galleon with its officers and men 
went down on the bleak rocks. So, too, on the Irish 
coast ships were wrecked and thousands of men were 
lost. Of all the Invincible Armada that had left Spain so 
sure of easy victory, there were but fifty ships left to re- 
turn, and of the twenty-eight thousand Spanish soldiers 
and sailors not a third had survived the disaster. 

With the destruction of his splendid Armada Philip's 
hopes of conquering England and restoring it to the 
Catholic Church vanished utterly. As we have seen, 
he had failed also to prevent Protestantism from being 



268 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

established in Holland, and before his death he was forced 
to see the new religion take the place of Catholicism in 
Germany and Switzerland, and even make great headway 
in France, w4iere its followers, often fiercely persecuted, 
were known as Huguenots.^ 

English trade. For England the defeat of the Spanish 
Armada meant more than a great victory. From that 
time the English had little to fear from Spain. English 
trading ships, carrying fine cloth and tin to sell in foreign 
ports, went boldly out on their voyages, sailing through 
the Mediterranean Sea for silks, spices, and jewels, and 
down along the African coast for gold and ivory, or to 
northern seas for Russian furs. England began to take 
a foremost place in the commerce of Europe ; and close 
upon these trading ventures followed many exploring 
and colonizing voyages to America. 

Questions, l. At the mouth of what great river does Holland lie ? 
2. Who is the present ruler of Holland ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 404-408 
(the fight with the Armada); pp. 412-414 (letter to Sir Philip Sidney 
from his father). Robinson. Readings in European History, Vol. II, 
pp. 1 89-1 9 1 (a letter of Sir John Hawkins about the Armada); pp. 
1 68-1 7 1 (Philip II of Spain); pp. 1 71-174 (the Netherlands and their 
revolt); pp. 174-179 (Philip and William the Silent). Bates and Coman. 
English History Told by English Poets, p. 288 (The Armada). 

1 Many Huguenots fled from France to America to avoid persecution, and 
formed a settlement in South Carolina. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 

English seamen in the time of EUzabeth. Sir John Hawkins's slave-trading 

voyages. Sir Francis Drake's voyage around the world and his attacks on 

Spanish towns and vessels. Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 

Life in England. The Elizabethan Age 

Section 49. English Seamen 

The famous story of England's defeat of the Invincible 
Armada, the struggle of the Netherlands against Spain, 
and the tale of the rivalry of Queen Elizabeth and Mary 
Queen of Scots will always be full of thrilling interest to 
the world ; but of still deeper interest to American people 
are the adventures of the English mariners of that time. 
The roving spirit of their early Viking ancestors showed 
itself in the daring courage that carried these English 
seamen, nothing daunted by danger, disease, and failure, 
over leagues of unknown seas in search of distant lands. 
The list of them is long — Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, 
Gilbert, Raleigh, and many more — whose real homes were 
the foam-washed decks of their sea-tossed vessels rather 
than the quiet village streets and green fields of England. 

We have seen how Spain and Portugal, in the early 

days, had taken the lead in exploration. For a long time 

269 



270 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



the English people made no serious attempt to secure 
a share in the newly discovered countries. Spain, more- 
over, guarded her possessions in the New World by 
forbidding any other nation to trade at her ports in the 
West Indies or elsew^iere on the new^ continent. So 
none but Spanish vessels could safely enter those harbors. 

The only early voyages of discovery of any importance 
under the English flag were those of John Cabot and 
his sons,^ seventy years before the time of Elizabeth. 
Cabot explored the coast of North America from Labra- 
dor to Virginia, believing all the time that he had reached 
Asia and had discovered the way to the treasures of the 
East which Marco Polo had described. He had no idea 
that the land he had found was a part of the same conti- 
nent of which the Spanish had taken possession. He 
brought back nothing that tempted any one else to 
make a voyage to those northern regions ; so instead of 
sailing across the Atlantic, English seamen of the early 
days of discovery went trading in the Mediterranean 
Sea and sometimes down the coast of Africa. It was 
not until the time of Queen Elizabeth that they made 
bolder ventures. 

Sir John Hawkins. In the little village of Plymouth, 
in the southwestern part of England, there lived a family 
by the name of Hawkins. The father was a well-known 
trader who had made as many as three trips to Brazil, 

1 See p. 218. 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 



271 



crossing from Africa to exchange negroes captured on the 
African coast for sugar and other products. His son, who 
was to become the famous Sir John Hawkins of Queen 
EHzabeth's reign, heard many a tale from his father of 
his adventures in Africa, and when he was but a lad he 
resolved that he too would follow the fortunes of the sea. 




English Seaman's Home at Clovelly 



He made his first voyage on an English trading ship 
that sailed to Spain and the Canary Islands. Here he 
heard much about the Spanish possessions in the New 
World from the sailors on the Spanish and Portuguese 
ships that came into the same harbors. Among other 
things he learned that the natives of the West Indies 



272 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

were rapidly dying under the hardships they suffered 
from their Spanish masters, and that the gold and silver 
m^ines and the great plantations would soon be lying 
idle for want of slaves to work them. 

All this made young John Hawkins resolve to brave 
the danger of carrying a cargo of negroes to the West 
Indies. Even though Spain allowed no foreign trade in 
these lands, and though it would mean the risk of his life 
to venture there, he believed that the Spanish colonists 
were in such pressing need that they would disobey 
orders and gladly buy his slaves. 

Accordingly he interested some London friends in his 
project, and with their help got together a little squadron 
of three ships, and in the year 1562 sailed for Guinea, on 
the coast of Africa. Here he stayed some time and got 
into his possession, partly by the sword and partly by 
other means, at least three hundred negroes. With them 
he sailed across the ocean and w^as the first English 
mariner to enter West Indian waters. He touched only 
at the smaller ports, thinking there was less risk in this, 
and had no difficulty in disposing of his negroes to 
the eager colonists. He was always very careful, never 
attempting more than he could manage, and succeeded 
so well in his venture that he was obliged to buy two 
additional ships to carry back his cargo. Finally he 
sailed home across the Atlantic with his five vessels 
laden with hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls. 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 273 

When he neared Europe he made his great mistake. 
Since Spain and England were then on friendly terms he 
thought it safe to try to dispose of some of his cargo in 
Spain. Instead of buying his goods the Spanish authori- 
ties took possession of them and threatened to do worse 
if this daring mariner traded with their colonies in 
America again. 

Hawkins was not to be discouraged, however. He had 
found a trade that seemed to him highly profitable and 
he was resolved to go on with it. His second expedition 
was even bolder than the first, and in spite of the strict 
orders of the Spanish, he managed, by persuasion or by 
force, to get rid of his wretched load of human beings 
and take on a good cargo in exchange at a number of 
West Indian ports. 

This time he returned to Europe by way of the eastern 
coast of what is now the United States, being the first 
Englishman to sail the whole length of those shores. 
In an account of the trip written by one of the voyagers 
who accompanied him, a description is given of the 
Indians of Florida. Among other things he tells how 
they tattooed themselves, pricking the flesh with a thorn 
so that it might hold the color better. He describes 
tobacco, too, which he saw for the first time. 

From this time on Hawkins and his men became 
more and more venturesome. They saw that the heavy 
Spanish ships were not able to overtake their lighter, 



2 74 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



smaller ones whenever a fight arose, nor were the Spanish 
soldiers and sailors so bold and ready at attack and de- 
fense as they themselves. Hawkins even gave directions 
for capturing their ships, which ended with the words: 
" Serve God daily ; love one another ; preserve your 
victuals ; beware of fire ; and keep good company." 




Houses uf rAULiAMExr, Loxdu.n 

Many another Plymouth sailor set out from the little 
town to follow the profitable trade in negroes that 
Hawkins had begun. Year after year they sailed the 
seas like pirates, pursuing Spanish galleons laden with 
treasure, taking possession of them, putting the captains 
and men in irons, and bringing them back, along with 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 



275 



the ships and treasure, as their prize to England. Queen 
EHzabeth herself did not discourage this lawlessness and 
only laughed when the Spanish ambassador protested 
against it. 

Sir Francis Drake. Francis Drake, of whom we have 
already spoken in the account of the defeat of the Invin- 
cible Armada, was a young relative of John Hawkins, 
and had sailed with him on one of his voyages. What he 
learned from that hardy captain and other slave traders, 
combined with his own courage and persistence, made 
him the most renowned of English naval adventurers. 

On one of his trips to the New World he had landed 
on the Isthmus of Panama and had been taken by natives 
to the summit of a great ridge, where there was a huge 
tree in which steps had been cut. Mounting these, he 
gazed out upon a marvelous view, for in one direction he 
could see the Atlantic and in the other the Pacific. No 
Englishman had ever before beheld the Pacific Ocean, 
and as Drake looked out over it he prayed God to give 
him life and leave to sail once upon its waters in an Eng- 
lish ship. To add to his enthusiasm for this new venture 
he learned that on the western coast of South America, 
especially in the country of Peru, lay many a port rich 
in treasure and well worth a brave captain's taking. 

In November of the year 1577 he set out to accom- 
plish his great plan. He knew that the Peruvian towns 
were unfortified, for the only entrance to them was from 



276 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the " South Sea," as the Spanish called the southern 
Pacific ; ^ and nothing had seemed less likely to the 
Spanish than that an enemy would approach from that 
direction, since he would have to make his way all around 
South America and through the difficult and dangerous 
Strait of Magellan. But it was just in this way that 
Drake and his companions planned to go. Accordingly, 
sixty years after Magellan had made his famous voyage 
in these seas, the English mariner followed the same 
route in his stout ship, the Pelican? 

In one of the harbors he captured a great Spanish ship 
laden with treasure, and sacked the town, carrying off 
even the silver chalice and altar cloth from its little chapel. 
Several times his party landed on the way up the coast, 
once robbing of all his silver a man they found lying 
asleep on the shore ; again capturing from their driver 
some sheep heavily loaded with the precious metal ; and 
taking from many a passing boat its cargo. 

At another place they found twelve well-stored ships. 
These they plundered of silver, linen, and silks, and then 
cut their cables and set them adrift. Then they sailed 
on toward Panama in pursuit of another ship of which 



1 The whole Pacific Ocean was sometimes called by this name. The stretch 
of South American coast along the Caribbean Sea was called the Spanish Main. 
Some writers of to-day give this name to the Caribbean Sea itself. 

2 As soon as Drake passed the Strait of Magellan he rechristened his vessel 
the Golden Hind, which was the crest of Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor 
to Queen Elizabeth and one of her favorite courtiers. 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 277 

they had heard. This, too, was robbed when it was 
overtaken, together with several more that they came 
across later. By this time they had on board such a load 
of gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and other 
treasure that it amounted to more than a million dollars 
in value, and Drake began to consider the best way of 
returning to England. 

If he went back the way he had come, he ran every 
risk of being captured by the Spanish. He resolved, 
therefore, to cross the Pacific as Magellan had done and, 
passing by way of the Moluccas, to double the Cape of 
Good Hope, sail up the coast of Africa, and so reach 
England from the opposite side of the world. All this 
he accomplished, and won the fame of being the first 
English mariner to circumnavigate the globe. The 
records of his trip show that he landed on the coast 
of California on his journey, spent some time with the 
friendly Indians there, and set up a brass tablet on the 
spot where he landed, engraved with the date and 
Queen Elizabeth's name. 

Queen Elizabeth was delighted with Drake's great feat 
and with the enormous treasure he brought back. She 
honored him by a visit to the Golden Hind and there, 
on board his own ship, conferred the order of knighthood 
on him. For years afterward the hull of his famous little 
vessel was used as a restaurant in one of the English 
sea towns. Later a chair was cut from its timbers and 



278 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

presented to the University of Oxford, where one may 
see it to-day. As for Drake, of whom the Spaniards had 
such a dread that they called him the " Dragon," he fol- 
lowed his buccaneering career until it brought him at 
last to his death in the waters of the West Indian seas. 

Fascinating as are the tales of these Elizabethan ad- 
venturers, their energy and daring were almost entirely 
devoted to what we should now consider the most crim- 
inal enterprises ; namely, piracy and trade in slaves. 
Nevertheless they did good service, not only for Eng- 
land in her fight with the Armada but also in showing 
the way across the seas to later explorers, whose object 
was the planting of colonies in the New World. John 
Hawkins may even have had some thought of finding 
a suitable spot where Englishmen might settle when he 
coasted along the eastern shores of North America, for 
it was in that region that Sir Walter Raleigh, another 
Elizabethan navigator, picked out a site for a colony. 

Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Sir 
Walter Raleigh w^as an admiral in Queen Elizabeth's 
navy and was, besides, one of her most favored and 
charming courtiers. He first won the queen's favor, so 
the story goes, by his gallantry ; for once, as she was 
about to cross the street with her train of attendants and 
was hesitating before a muddy pool, fearful lest it should 
soil her slippers, Raleigh hastened to the rescue, flung 
his rich velvet cloak over the mud, and begged her 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 279 

to honor him by making use of it for a carpet to 
protect her royal feet. 

Whether or not this tale is true, he received many 
honors and much assistance from her, and made a name 
for himself in history by his persistent efforts to establish 
English colonies in newly discovered countries, although 
none of his attempts was successful. At least twice he 
sent out bands of colonists to the eastern coast of North 
America, — which he named Virginia in honor of the 
" virgin queen," Elizabeth, — but they either became dis- 
couraged and returned or else perished, and it remained 
for another Englishman to establish, in 1607, th^ ^^st 
permanent colony in Virginia. 

To Sir Walter Raleigh belongs also the distinction of 
having introduced into Ireland and elsewhere the potato, 
whicli Drake was the first to bring over from America, 
and which the people of Ireland, especially, have ever 
since made a large part of their daily fare. Raleigh also, 
it is said, introduced into England the use of tobacco. 
The plant had already been brought from America by 
the Spaniards. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a half brother of Raleigh, was 
an adventurous mariner who led several expeditions to 
the American continent. He firmly believed that a north- 
west passage from England to India and the Spice 
Islands could be found. In his attempt to discover it 
he ran across Newfoundland and took possession of it in 



28o INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

the name of the queen. It was on his return from this 
voyage that his ship was wrecked and he went down with 
it and its crew, having called out to the companion 
vessel but a short time before the waves swept over 
him the hopeful words, " We are as near to heaven by 
sea as by land." 

Section 50. The End of Elizabeth's Reign 

Ireland. A momentous event of Queen Elizabeth's 
reign was the suppression of the Irish rebellion. Ireland, 
in ancient days, was famous for the learning of its monks, 
and numbers of them had been sent out as missionaries 
to teach Christianity in other countries. Throughout the 
Middle Ages the Irish continued to produce books, and 
hundreds of Irish manuscripts, some of them dating 
back more than a thousand years, may still be seen in 
Dublin. The old Irish bards were renowned for their 
songs, and Irish harpers for the sweetness of their music, 
and Irish literature of to-day, also, is highly prized for 
its poetic charm. 

More than four hundred years before Elizabeth's time 
Ireland had been annexed to England, and English earls 
established on estates near Dublin. Feudal dues were 
demanded of Irish chieftains, and from that time the 
English kings assumed the title " Lord of Ireland." 
But the English nobles in Ireland were confined to a 
few counties around Dublin and the greater part of the 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 281 

island was entirely independent of English rule. Later 
English kings made attempts from time to time to sub- 
jugate the strong, daring chieftains of the Irish clans 
and their bands of followers, but with little success until 
Henry VIII took the conquest in hand and brought 
the whole country under English sway. 

After he had conquered it he took the title " King of 
Ireland" and tried to introduce English laws, language, 
and manners among the people. The Irish did not take 
this attempt unkindly, but when the king tried to force 
upon them Protestant forms of worship their opposition 
was determined and unyielding. 

Elizabeth had a long struggle with them in her reign, 
and when they were at last reduced to submission she 
likewise undertook to force the English laws and an Eng- 
lish system of government upon them, but she met with 
little success. Her effort to introduce the Protestant re- 
ligion failed also. A fearful persecution followed, but it 
was unsuccessful and the great part of the Irish people 
have to this day remained loyal to the Catholic faith. 

The Elizabethan Age. The forty-five years during which 
Queen Elizabeth reigned over England are often called 
the Elizabethan Age, or the Age of Elizabeth. It was an 
unusually long period for a country to remain under the 
rule of one person, and was a time of great prosperity. 

We have seen how England, during this time, got the 
better of the Spanish enemy and began, through her 



282 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

great seamen and navigators, to take a part in exploring 
and in planning the colonization of America. But these 
adventures in the New World were only a small part 
of the activities that were astir everywhere throughout 
the kingdom. 

During the long peace of Elizabeth's reign the English 
had been able to give time and energy to improving their 
manufactures, farming, and commerce, and thus increased 
the wealth of the country very greatly. This wealth in 
turn was used to improve their way of living, especially 
by the building of more comfortable dwellings. Even 
the farmers and tradesmen were now able to have pleas- 
ant and attractive homes, while the houses of the noble- 
men built in the days of Elizabeth are famous for their 
stately beauty. 

A writer of those times said that he had heard old 
men speak of the improvement which they had seen take 
place in England in her reign. One change, they said, 
was in the great increase in the number of chimneys built 
in the houses, for in their youthful days there were few 
to be seen. Another was the improvement in sleeping 
arrangements. In olden times people had slept on straw 
pallets, with a good round log for a pillow, whereas now 
both bed and pillows were of feathers. Pewter dishes 
and tin or silver spoons began to be used instead of the 
old woodenware. Forks, however, were not invented until 
several years after Elizabeth's death. 




283 



284 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

The dress of the nobles of that time was particularly 
magnificent. The men dressed as elegantly as the women. 
Ruffs made of stiffened cambric and edged with jewels 
were worn by both, and the costumes of both were of 
the richest and finest silks, velvets, and brocades. Queen 




Shakspere's Home 



Elizabeth's wardrobe contained three thousand gowns, 
and the nobility were ready to follow the fashions she 
set as far as they could. 

Life was very gay, both for the nobility and the yeo- 
men. The queen was constantly leaving London for a 
"progress," as it was called — a trip through the various 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 285 

parts of her kingdom. The ladies and gentlemen of her 
court accompanied her in great state on these journeys. 
They were all entertained with the utmost magnificence 
at this and that castle or manor house on the route, and 
each host tried to surpass the others in the splendor of 
the entertainment he provided for his sovereign. One 
given by the queen's favorite courtier, Robert, Earl of 
Leicester, at his castle at Kenilworth, is described in 
Sir Walter Scott's novel, " Kenilworth." 

The poorer people had especial merrymakings for 
every one of the many holidays occurring throughout 
the year — on Christmas, New Year's Day, Twelfth 
Night, Easter, May Day, and Midsummer, and many 
others. All of these were celebrated by dances and 
ceremonies that had been handed down for centuries. 

Theaters were just becoming popular in the days 
of Elizabeth. At first they were not much more than 
fenced-in yards, with a covered stage on which the 
play was acted. On the stage were stools for people 
who could afford to pay a shilling for their seats. The 
rest paid their penny or two and stood below on the 
ground, unprotected by any roof. There was no scenery 
or curtain, and a printed placard announced the place 
where the scene was laid, as " Venice," " Rome," etc. 
All the women's parts were taken by men. It was for 
much this sort of theater that William Shakspere, the 
glory of the Elizabethan Age, wrote his earlier plays. 



286 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Death of Queen Elizabeth. In 1603 the great queen 
died. Shakspere voices the feehngs of her people toward 
her when, in the play " Henry VIII," he says: 

She shall be loved and fear'd : her own shall bless her ; 

Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, 

And hang their heads with sorrow : good grows with her : 

In her days every man shall eat in safety, 

Under his own vine, what he plants ; and sing 

The merry songs of peace to all his neighbors. 

Character of the English people in the times of Queen 
Elizabeth. The character of the English people had 
changed greatly in the centuries that lie between the 
time of King John and that of Queen Elizabeth. Long 
before the reign of Elizabeth, Parliament had grown to 
be a very influential body. Knights and merchants had 
become members of it as well as bishops and nobles, and 
no king failed to consult it before taking any important 
step. The serfs had gained their freedom and were no 
longer bound to the land. They tilled their farms for 
themselves, buying them outright or renting them from 
the landlords. Englishmen had in every way grown more 
independent and had developed a strong love of liberty. 
They now demanded freedom to think for themselves and 
to worship as they chose. In later times many of them 
emigrated to America so that they might have this liberty. 
It was for this reason that the Puritans and Quakers left 
England and founded colonies in the New World. 



THE ELIZABETHAN AGE 287 

Development of English colonies in America. Less than 
twenty years after the death of Queen EHzabeth two 
EngHsh colonies, Jamestown and Plymouth, had been es- 
tablished on North American shores. A Spanish colony 
had already grown up in Florida, and before long a 
Dutch colony was settled in New York and a Swedish 
colony in Delaware. 

From these small and lonely outposts, scattered here 
and there in the vast American wilderness and added 
to by newcomers from Europe year by year, our great 
republic of the United States has grown. Its inhabitants, 
in the three centuries that have passed since the first 
colonists arrived, have increased in numbers from a few 
thousands to more than ninety millions, and thousands 
of cities and towns have grown up throughout its length 
and breadth. The purpose of this volume has been to 
prepare the pupil to understand the story of this great 
English-speaking country of ours, which was first settled 
by the English in 1607, made itself independent of Eng- 
land in 1776, and in the century and a half since then 
has taken its place among the chief nations of the world ; 
yet in which so much of old England has remained that 
the hope of King George III, when he acknowledged the 
independence of the American colonies, has been fulfilled 
— the hope that " religion, language, interest, and affec- 
tion might prove a bond of permanent union between 
the two countries." 



288 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Questions, i. How long after Elizabeth's death was Jamestown 
founded ? 2. How many years elapsed before the first English settle- 
ment was made in New England ? 3. Which countries took the lead 
in explorations and which one has now the greatest colonies ? 4. Does 
it seem to you that many modern comforts were introduced in the time 
of Elizabeth ? 

References. Cheyney. Readings in English History, pp. 394-401 
(voyages of Frobisher and Drake); pp. 168-171 (old Irish stories); 
Old South Leaflets, Vol. V, p. 313 (Sir Francis Drake on the coast of 
California); p. ;^^^ (Frobisher's first voyage); p. 349 (Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert's expedition to Newfoundland); p. 381 (Raleigh's first Roanoke 
colony) ; p. 465 (England's title to North America ; written for Queen 
Elizabeth). 



CHAPTER XXI 

DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 

Fire and light. Agriculture. Use of metal. The alphabet. The compass. 
Gunpowder. The printing press 

When we compare the world in which we Hve to-day 
with the times of Queen EHzabeth we are struck with the 
great number of inventions that have been made since 
the Enghsh and other nations settled in America. Our 
railroads and steamships and motor cars enable us to 
travel very quickly compared with the stagecoaches of 
Elizabeth's time. We have electric lights and telephones 
and phonographs. With the microscope and telescope 
scientists have been able to discover all sorts of things 
unknown to men three or four hundred years ago. We 
use steam and electricity to run machinery, and with 
the machinery we make our clothes and often prepare 
our food. All these things have made it possible to live 
much more comfortably than our ancestors in Europe 
lived in former centuries. 

While all the things we have mentioned, besides many 

other inventions, were unheard of when American history 

began, mankind had nevertheless made a great many 

important discoveries, of which we will mention a few. 

289 



290 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

Man had to discover everydiing for himself. He had 
to find out that he could pound with a stone and sharpen 
a stick with a shell, and later that he could sharpen bits 
of flint so that he could use them for knives to cut up 
the animals he wished to eat. 

Fire. One of his very earliest and most important dis- 
coveries w^as that fire w^ould keep him warm in cold 
weather and that it w^ould cook the meat he had been 
accustomed to eat raw, along with berries and fruits and 
edible roots. He must have experimented in the first 
place with the fires kindled in the forests by the light- 
ning or by molten lava running out of the crater of a 
volcano. Then he learned to make fire by rubbing sticks 
together and in various other w^ays that indicate great 
ingenuity. From that one discovery has come an almost 
inconceivable number of benefits to the w^orld, — warmth, 
light, the employment of iron and steam with all the uses 
they have been put to for engines of every sort, — indeed, 
it is impossible for us to realize life without fire and all 
that it has brought us. Many people of ancient times, 
the Greeks and Romans among them, considered fire 
so great a blessing that they worshiped the fireplace as 
the shrine of a god. 

At the time when the first colonists came to America 
there w^ere no modern stoves, ovens, or lamps. When the 
hearth fire went out it was a great trouble to relight it, 
for matches had not yet been invented and fire had to 




DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 291 

be brought from a neighbor's hearth or a spark struck 
from a tinder box. 

Light. Whatever Hght our ancestors had was from can- 
dles, torches, or the fire blazing on the hearth, or from 
a sort of lamp made of a cup of oil with a strip of cloth 
in it for a wick. The Greeks and Romans used lamps 
like the one in the illustration. It is a long step from the 
dark houses and streets of the 
past to our own brilliantly lighted 
ones. 

Agriculture. For many thou- 
sands of years men knew nothing 
. . . ... Ancient Roman Lamp 

of sowmg seeds and cultivatmg 

the ground or of keeping horses and cattle. These things, 
which we call agriculture, had to be learned. At first 
men lived by hunting. Gradually they learned how to 
make a rude plow to prepare the soil for the seed, and a 
wheel which would enable them to roll things in a cart 
instead of carrying them on their backs or the backs of 
animals. They discovered, too, that dishes could be made 
of soft clay and then hardened in a fire, and this led to 
the making of pottery. 

The use of metal. Scarcely five thousand years ago 
men discovered that metal could be used for tools and 
weapons instead of stone. Copper and tin when mixed 
make bronze, which is harder than copper, and so bronze 
implements gradually came in along with the older ones 



292 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

made of flint. Some thousand years later iron was found 
to be still better. They did not have our kind of coal, 
which has come into use during the last two centuries, 
but used charcoal to soften the metals. 

It would hardly be possible to estimate all that we 
owe to iron. Some one has called it the metal of civiliza- 
tion, so important is the part it plays in our daily life. 
Out of it is made almost every implement or machine 
that we use, as well as the machinery with which the 
factories are filled that supply us with the means of living. 
It would be an interesting question to consider whether 
there is anything which we eat, wear, or use in any way 
in whose production iron has not had a part. 

The alphabet. One of the greatest inventions that we 
owe to the people of the remote past is the letters that 
make up our alphabet — the alphabet that we use so 
continually and yet so seldom wonder how we came by. 

It would take too long to tell how, ages ago, people 
had no alphabet at all, how they first drew pictures in 
order to express their ideas, as we have seen in the case 
of the Aztecs, and how they finally invented letters. 
The Greeks, very early in their history, were taught an 
alphabet by an Eastern people called Phoenicians, who 
got their idea from the Egyptians. The Greeks developed 
and improved this, and their colonists carried it to south- 
ern Italy long before the town of Rome was heard of. 
Later, when the Romans conquered these Greek towns, 



DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 



293 



they learned the letters of the Greek alphabet and used 
them to write their own language. Through the Romans 
this alphabet, somewhat modified, spread all over Europe, 
and it is the one we use to-day as if it had always be- 
longed to us. It may help us to remember our debt, to 
know that the word " alphabet " is made from the names 
of the first two Greek letters. Alpha and Beta, to which 
our capital letters A and B correspond.^ 

The Greeks and Romans possessed all the arts that 
had been discovered up to their times, — agriculture, 
the use of fire and of the metals, the making of pottery, 
the ability to spin with the distaff and weave on a very 
simple frame called a loom, run by hand of course, — 
but they had little or no machinery in our sense of the 
word. They had little tendency to make new inventions, 
and Europe made no progress in this respect until the 
thirteenth century (six hundred years ago), when some 
very important things were discovered. 

The compass. In the thirteenth century the compass 
first came into general use by Europeans — that little 
instrument with its magnetized needle ever pointing to 
the north, which enables sailors to direct their course on 
the sea when no land is in sight and no stars are visible 
to guide them. Before that time sailors never ventured 

1 The Roman capital letters, which we still use, closely resemble the Greek 
capitals, but the small letters, which were invented later, differ a good deal from 
the original forms, so that Latin and Greek books do not look much alike at 
first glance. 



294 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

far from land. The most daring voyage made without a 
compass was that which the Norsemen made to North 
America. If it had not been for this Httle guide, the 
great exploring ventures of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries and the discoveries that came from them would 
have been much longer in the making, and Columbus 
himself, daring and courageous as he was, would hardly 
have ventured out on that wonderful voyage that brought 
him to our shores. 

In the thirteenth century, too, we first find mention 
of spectacles. Paper also first began to be used then 
in Europe, whither it had been brought from China by 
the Arabs. The figures that we commonly use (o, i, 2, 3, 
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), called Arabic, began to take the place of 
the Roman letters also about this time. 

Gunpowder. In the fourteenth century gunpowder first 
began to come into use in Europe. We do not know who 
first discovered that a mixture of charcoal, sulphur, and 
a white powder called saltpeter would explode if it was 
rammed into a tight place and set on fire. It is known 
that the Chinese used it at a very early date to make 
fireworks and cannons, and that it was known in India 
also. Perhaps the knowledge of gunpowder, like so many 
other things, came to Europeans from eastern Asia. 

But even after Europeans began to make cannons it 
took a long time to get enough of them to be of much 
use in a battle. Men still continued to rely on their trusty 



DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 



295 



old long bows and crossbows, which they found good 
enough for killing their enemies when they could get 
within reach of them. About the time of Columbus, how- 
ever, cannons and curious awkward guns which were set 
off with a bit of lighted hemp or flax became so common 
that they displaced the bows and arrows. The knight's 
heavy armor that had 
protected him from the 
enemy's arrows was 
not proof against can- 
non balls and bullets. 
Even castle gates and 
w^alls ceased to be a 
protection, for they 
could easily be battered 
down by an enemy sup- 
plied with a few good 
cannons. The nobility, 
therefore, ceased to 

build castles to live in, and gradually gave up wearing 
their clumsy suits of armor. 

The invention of gunpowder not only made tremen- 
dous changes in methods of carrying on war, but has 
been of great service in many ways, especially in making 
possible deep mining and quarrying. 

The printing press. The first printing press with mov- 
able types was made in Europe about 1450. The only 




Early Cannon 



296 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

way to make a book before printing was invented was 
to copy it out by hand as we have seen the monks doing 
in preceding chapters. The copyists were able with their 
quill pens to make very beautiful little letters, so that 
their pages looked almost as even as those of early printed 
books. But thev were sure to make some mistakes when 




From a Copley Print. Copyright, 1897, Curtis aiid Cameron 

The First Pkixtixg Press 

(From the painting by John W. Alexander in the Congressional Library) 

they were careless or tired, and no two hand-copied books 
were ever exactly alike. Although it cost a great deal 
more to print a si'jiglc copy of a work than to write it 
out by hand, yet when the type was once ready, three 
hundred, or five hundred, or a thousand copies could be 
made for a great deal less than any one could possibly 
write them all out by hand. Moreover, no one of all these 



DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 



■97 



copies would have any mistakes in it, if the type had been 
correctly set up. 

In the centuries that have passed since the invention 
of the printing press its powers have been immeasurably 
increased. Instead of the old wooden affair run by hand, 
it has grown to be 
a magical machine 
— printing, cutting, 
folding, and count- 
ing sixteen hundred 
newspapers a min- 
ute. Fifty miles of 
paper can pass 
through it every 
hour, and so deftly 
and perfectly do all 
parts of the machine 
work, and so fast 
do the sheets hurry 
through it, that only 
one fifth of a second 

is required to print a page. Yet the paper is almost 
never torn or crushed. 

The benefits that have come to the world from the 
printing press are beyond our powers to reckon. The 
finest part of our civilization rests upon the art of print- 
ing. Our education depends upon it. By means of it the 




Early Printing Press 



298 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 

treasures of great writers, historians, scientists, poets, and \ 
artists are put into our hands and the daily news of the 

world is brought to us. Best of all, it has placed all these | 

benefits within the reach of every one of us. I\ 



Questions, l. Do you know how savages to-day make their fires? 
2. What is a tinder box ? What is charcoal ? 3. How do you suppose the 
first plow was fashioned ? 4. Mention all the uses of iron that you can 
think of. 5. Why would it be easier for sailors to find their way from 
Norway to Labrador without a compass than from Spain to Cuba ? 6. Do 
you know whether or not all type is set up by hand nowadays ? 7. How 
many kinds of type were used in setting up this page ? 

References. Mowry. American Inventions and Inventors. Burns. 
The Story of Great Inventions. 



INDEX 



Abbeys, i86 (note). See also Monasteries 

Abbot, i86 (note) 

Acropolis, 41 

Adrianople, battle of, 70-72 

Agriculture, 291 

Agrigentum, y] 

Alaric, the Goth, 72-73 

Alfred the Great, fights with Danes, 93 ; 
love of learning, 94 ; the " Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle" begun by, 96; 
death of, 98 

Alva, Duke of, 262 

America, discovery of, 215 ; naming of, 
243 ; colonies in, 287 

Amsterdam, 261 

Angles, 67, 76-79 

"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," 96, 122, 125 

Antwerp, 261 

Arabic numerals, 294 

Archbishops, 1 79-181 

Armada, the Invincible, 264-269 

Arthur, King, and the Round Table, 
76 

Ascham, Roger, 253 

Asser, 93 

Augustine, 84-87 

Augustus Caesar (Octavius), 35-37 

Aztecs, 236-242 

Bahama Islands, 215 

Bayeux tapestry, 118 

Bede, 87, 89-91 

Bishops, 180, 181 

Black Friars, see Dominicans 

Boadicea, 48 

British Isles, 9 

Britons (early) 17-20; and Caesar, 20- 

22 
Bronze, first use of, 16, 291 
Bruges, 261 
Brussels, 261 



Cabot, John, 217-219, 270 

Caesar, Julius, in Rome, 33-34 ; and the 
Germans, 67 ; invades Britain, 76-79 

Calicut, 221, 224 

California, 247, 277 

Cannons, 294-295 

Canterbury, in Anglo-Saxon times, 86; 
archbishop of, 181 

Canute, 108, 11 1, 112 

Caractacus, 49-50 

Carthage, 26-30 

Cartier, Jacques, 244 

Castles, in the time of William the Con- 
queror, 1 20-1 2 1 ; in the thirteenth 
century, 168-172 ; decay of, 295 

Cathay (China), 206 

Cathedrals, 181-186 

Cecil, Sir William (Lord Burleigh), 253 

Charles V, 227, 233, 236, 237, 242, 259, 
261 

China (Cathay) described by Marco 
Polo, 209 

Chivalry, 176 

Christianity, beginnings of, 81-83 

Church, Roman, 83; in feudal times, 131 ; 
power of, 178, 179; learning of, 179; 
organization of, 1 79-181 ; in time of 
Henry VIII, 248 ; in time of Eliza- 
beth, 254 

Claudius, Emperor, 47 

Cloisters, 188 

Coat of arms, 147 

Colosseum, 56 

Columbus, 212-217 

Compass, 293 

Constantine, Emperor, 73 

Constantinople, founded, ']'^ ; visited 
by Crusaders, 136 

Copenhagen, 102 

Copper, 291 

Corinth, 38 



299 



300 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



Cortes, Hernando, 235; and Monte- 
zuma, 239-241 ; takes City of Mexico, 
241 

Crossbows, 295 

Crusades, First Crusade, 133-137; 
Third Crusade, 138-140; results of, 
143-144 

Cuba, 215 

Curfew, 124 

Da Gama finds way to India by sea, 

220-223 
Danes (Vikings), 92-93, 96, 97, 99, in 
Declaration of Independence, 2 
Denmark, 99 
De Soto, Ferdinand, 243 
Diaz, Bernal, with Cortes, 236 
Diaz, discoverer of the Cape of Good 

Hope, 212 
Dominican Friars (Black Friars), 194 
Doomsday Book, 122 
Drake, Sir Francis, 264, 265, 267, 275- 

278 
Druids, 19 

Elizabeth, 248; described, 250-253; 
and Protestantism, 254; and Mary 
Stuart, 255-257 ; and the Nether- 
lands, 262 ; and Ireland, 281 ; death 
of, 286 

Elizabethan Age, 281-285 

England, size of, 8 ; climate of, 9 ; 
appearance of, 9-12; derivation of 
name, 79 

Ethelbert, King of Kent, 85 

Excommunication of King John, 152 

Fairs, 203-205 

Ferdinand of Spain, 213-216, 223, 227 

Feudalism, 1 29-1 31 

Fief, 129 

Fire, 290 

Fist hatchets of Stone- Age Men, 14 

Flanders, 261 

Flint, 13-14, 290 

Florida, 273, 287 

France, derivation of name, 74 

Franciscans (Gray Friars), 194-196 

Frederick Barbarossa, 138 

French language in England, 126, 176 



Friars (mendicant), 194-196; Domini- 
can, 194-196; Franciscan, 194-196 
Frobisher, 266, 269 

Gargoyles, 185 

Gaul, 20; called Frankland, 74 

Genoa, 213, 224 

Germans (early), described, 67-69; 
make their way into the Roman Em- 
pire, 69-74 ; in England, 76-79 

Germania, 67 

Ghent, 261 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 269, 279 

Godfrey of Bouillon, 135, 137 

Golden Hind, 276, 277 

Good Hope, Cape of, 211, 212, 234 

Gothic architecture, 184 

Goths, 67, 71, 72 

Gray Friars, see Franciscans 

Great Council, see Parliament and 
Witenagemot 

Greece made a Roman province, 38 

Greek columns, styles of, 42, 44 

Greeks, influence of, upon the Romans, 
37-45 ; public buildings of, 40-44 ; 
alphabet of, 292 

Greenland, 109 

Gregory the Great, 84 

Guilds, 200-202 

Guinea, 272 ; gulf of, 221 

Gunpowder, early use of, 294, 295 

Haarlem, 261 
Hadrian, wall of, 53 
Haiti, 215 

Hall, see Manor house 
Hannibal, 27-29 
Harold, 11 4-1 16 
Hastings, battle of, 116 
Hawking, 173 

Hawkins, Sir John, 266, 269, 270-274 
Hengist and Horsa, 78 
Henry VIII, 248-250 ; and Ireland, 281 
Henry the Navigator, 210, 211 
Holland, 260-263. -^^^ ^^^^ Nether- 
lands 
Holy Land, 132 
Homage, 129 
Huguenots, 268 
Pluns, 71 



INDEX 



301 



Ice Age, 14-15 

Iceland, 109 

Immigrants, first arrival in America, 

1-3 ; arrival of, in modern times, 4-6 
Imperator, 35 
India, 215, 220, 224, 279 
Indians, i, 215 
Innocent III, and King John, 149-153; 

and the friars, 194 
Interdict, i 51-152 
Inventions, 289 ff. 
Ireland, 9, 280-281 
Iron, use of, 17, 292 
Isabella, 213-216, 223, 227 

Jamestown, 2, 287 

Japan, 210 

Java, 210 

Jerusalem, 132, 136-137 

Jews, 153-154 

John, king of England, 149 ; and Inno- 
cent III, 150-153; and Magna 
Charta, 154-156 

Jutes, 76 

Kenilworth, 285 

Kent, 85 

Knights, 130, 144, 174-176; training of, 

144-145; armor of, 146-147 
Kublai Khan, 207 

Ladrones, 231 

Lamps (Roman), 291 

Langton, Stephen, 150, 155 

Latin language, use of, 91, 94 

Leyden, 261 

Light, 291 

London in Middle Ages, 197 

Long bows, 295 

Luther, Martin, 250, 261 

Magellan, Ferdinand, 226; discovers 
the straits, 230 ; sails over the Pacific, 
230-231 ; death of, 231 

Magellan, Strait of, 230, 276 

Magna Charta, winning of, 155-156; 
articles of, 156-158 

Manners in the Middle Ages, 172 

Manor (vill), 161-163 

Manor house, 162 



Manuscript books, 189-190 

Markets, 203 

Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, 
250 

Melinde, 221 

Merchants of the Middle Ages, 199- 
200 

Metals, use of, 291-292 

Mexico, 236 

Mexico City, 239; fall of, 242 

Missions, California, 246-247 

Mississippi River, 243 

Mohammedans, 132, 143 

Moluccas, see Spice Islands 

Monasteries, founding of, 87-89 ; de- 
scription of, 186-189 ; suppression of, 
249 

Monks, life of, 191-192 

Montezuma, 239-241 

Netherlands, 260, 261 ; revolt of, 261- 

263 
New Forest, 124 

" New World " (America), 243, 264 
Newfoundland, 279 
Norman architecture, 128, 184 
Normandy, 113 
Normans, in France, 113; in England, 

127, 128 
Northmen, see Vikings 
Northumbria, 85 
Norway, 92, 99, loi 

Octavius, 35 
Outlaws, 167 

Pacific Ocean, 230, 275 

Page, training of, 145 

Paper, 63, 294 

Papyrus, 63 

Parliament, 125, 286 

Parthenon, 42 

Patagonia, 229 

Pelican, 276 

Peru, 275 

Peter the Hermit, 134-135 

Philip Augustus, 140 

Philip II of Spain, 255, 257; and the 

Netherlands, 259-263 ; and England, 

263-267 



302 



INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY 



Philippine Islands, 231 

Phoenicians, 292 

Picts, 76 

Pigafetta, 228 

Plow, 291 

Plymouth, America, 287 

Plymouth, England, 266, 270 

Polo, Marco, 206-209 ; book of, 209- 

210 
Pope, 83 ; head of English Church, 

179 ; and Henry VIII, 248 ; and Mary, 

250; and Elizabeth, 254 
Portugal, 224, 235 
Potato, introduction of, 279 
Pottery, 291 
Priests, 181 

Printing, invention of, 295-298 
Protestant revolt, 250 
Puritans, 254, 286 

Quadrangle, 188 
Quakers, 286 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 269, 278-279 

Revolutionary War, 2 

Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) and the 
Crusades, 138-143 

Robin Hood, 167 (note) 

Rolf (Rollo), 113 

Roman amphitheaters, 55-56 

Roman aqueducts, 53-55 

Roman army, 31-32 

Roman books, 62-63 

Roman Empire, established, 35; two 
capitals of, and Western Roman Em- 
pire, 73 ; break-up of, 74 

Roman government in Britain, 50-51 

Roman houses, 56-60 

Roman language and laws, remains of, 
75-76 

Roman remains in Britain, 53-61 

Roman roads, 51-53 

Roman "triumph," 32-33 

Romanizing of Britain, 65 

Romans, character of, 24 ; early life of, 

25 
Rome, beginnings of, 23 ; legends of, 
24; early government of, 31; prov- 
inces of, 30 ; conquers Greece, 38 ; 
conquers Britain, 47-48 



Rotterdam, 261 

Runes, 102 > 

Runnymede, 156 

Sagas, 103-104 

St. Anthony, 87 

St. Benedict, 88, 192; rule of, 88 

St. Dominic, 194 

St. Francis of Assisi, 193-194 

Saladin, 138, 139, 142 

Saladin tax, 139 

Saracens, 138 

Saxons, 67, 76, 78-79 

Scotland, 9 

Scots, 76 

Scriptorium, 189-190 

Serfs (villeins , 163-164; life of, 165- 

168, 286 
Seville, 228, 234 
Shakspere, 285 
Sicily, 27 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 262 
Skald, 106-107 
Slave trade, 272 
South Sea, 276 
Spain/ 235, 244-245, 269-270 
Spanish Main, 276 (note) 
Spectacles, 294 
Spice Islands (Moluccas), 210, 217, 

226 
Spices, 219-220 
Squire, training of, 145 
Stone Age, 13-16 
Stonehenge, 16 
Sweden, 92, 99, loi 
'Syracuse, 37 

Tabard, 147 
Tobacco, 273, 279 
Tournaments, 175 

Towns in England in the Middle Ages, 
197-199; importance of, 205 

United States, republic of, established, 
3 ; immigrants to, 3-4 ; resemblance 
to England, 6-8 ; growth of, 287 

Urban II, 133-134 

Vassals, 1 29-1 31 
Venice, 224 



INDEX 



303 



Vespucci, Amerigo, 242-243 

Victoria, Magellan's ship, 234 

Vikings (Danes, or Northmen), 99 ; in- 
vade England, 92, i lo-i 1 1 ; relics of, 
101-102; ships and voyages of, 107- 
iio; and America, 109-110 

Vill, see Manor 

Villeins, see Serfs 

Virginia, 279 



Wales, 9 

West Indies, 272 

William the Conqueror, 113; invades 

England, 115; government of, 119- 

120; character of, 125 
William the Silent, Prince of Orange, 

262-263 
Witenagemot, 118, 125 

York, 181 



